Queen of Hearts
by Joannawrites
Summary: Jimmy's involvement with a saloon girl with dangerous secrets may cost him not only his life but the lives of those he loves most.
1. Chapter 1

This was my first love in fan fiction, and for years I ran a Young Riders website called The Way Station (see homepage URL on profile). I've decided to archive these stories of mine here. These are early, early works that gave me the confidence to go forth with more writing and eventually, original fiction. I know it's quite a departure from my other work on this site, and comparatively elementary attimes,but it's still the closest fan fiction to my heart.

Chapter I:Runaway

The gunshot roared through the balmy evening, reaching far into the bayou and returning in distorted echoes. For a moment everything was perfectly still as the aftershocks of the sound rolled over the water. Callie Sullivan slowly let the gun slide from her trembling fingers as the man in front of her sank to the floor.

"I warned you!" she growled, though her voice trembled. With that, she turned and walked from the room with a composure she didn't feel.

The man gasped out after her, "You'll go to hell for this and I'm going to be the one to send you there!"

She could think of nothing that she could say that would deter him, so she picked up the bag she had waiting. Her hoop skirts swayed madly as she let herself out of the house. He screamed for her to come back, his voice going more shrill and desperate when she didn't do so. She saw lights flaring in the upstairs windows and knew that the rest of the house had awakened. She didn't know if he would live or die. It didn't matter. The result would be the same for her.

She just signed her own death warrant.

Once clear of the house she picked up her skirts and flew to the stables--those beautiful, long stone buildings that housed some of the finest horses in the South. And some of the fastest.

A large black man met her there, blocking her path with apologetic dark eyes. "What you doin' miss?" He wondered.

"Horace, I need my horse right now!"

"But the Senator says you ain't to go nowhere, Miss!" The man said, "Miss Callie, is there trouble up at the big house? We all heard the shot!"

"Horace, there is going to be much more trouble if I don't get my horse! Please!"

The man had direct orders not to let her ride away, but as he looked into the young woman's terrified and violent eyes, he gave in. "All right, Miss Callie. But where you going? When will you be back?"

She could no longer blink the tears down as she looked at the slave she'd known since she was just a child, "Never, Horace."

"But Miss…"

Callie sighed impatiently and glanced up at the main house. Figures were looming in the many windows already. "Please!" She whispered, "I don't have much time! He'll kill me!"

Horace sighed, and his eyes were sorrowful. "Alright, Miss. I'll go get The Ghost ready…"

She nodded her thanks and waited by the stable door, lost in the shadows and starting to tremble as the fear of what she'd done spread outward from the center of her stomach.

Her eyes wandered over the main house as she tried to capture every inch of it in her memory. The large colonial mansion, the huge marble columns glowing in the moonlight. It sat on beautifully manicured grounds, and Callie had spent years roaming the gardens. The pastures all held beautiful, spirited horses that Callie had helped raise and train. Further inland, thousands of acres of tobacco, rice, and cotton were tended by slaves. The slow moving river drifted by the docks that Sullivan Manor had used to ship its products to New Orleans for nearly two hundred years. The graceful Weeping Willows that lined the river were even older than that.

Callie heard the soft clicking of her horse's hooves on the cobblestone aisle of the stable and turned to look. She could see the dappled gray horse glowing in the darkness long before she was able to spot Horace at his side. The spirited gray Arabian nickered at her, and she felt the tears creeping up on her as she placed a hand on his velvety black muzzle to quiet him, "Quiet Ghost, my boy." At least she would have one friend with her on her journey. There was small comfort in that.

"Miss, be careful…" Horace said.

"Thank you Horace. You take care of yourself! Tell everyone I will miss them and I'm sorry to leave them like this..." She said, and tears finally spilled from her eyes.

"What's to become of us, Miss Callie?" Horace asked softly, gaze downcast.

Callie bowed her head. How she wished she could save them all from the horrible situation she herself was escaping from! "I don't know, Horace. I'll do what I can, when I can. But staying here means the end of me, and I have to go. Godspeed!" She reached to hug him quickly and then leap, unassisted, onto her horse.

At that moment the heavy oak doors of the main house flew open, and a square of bright light poured onto the ground from inside. Callie closed her eyes as she heard the Senator's voice bellow, "Gather all the slaves! Tell them if they don't bring her back, it'll be a whipping for all of them!"

She'd tried to kill him, and she'd failed. Callie suddenly resented the fact that all her brothers had been taught to use a gun, but she'd never been allowed to handle one. A lot of good it had done them! Now he would punish the slaves for something they had no hand in. Horace looked up at her, and for a moment, Callie wondered if he'd grab her and give her away. He did, after all, have a family to think about, and Callie wouldn't have blamed him.

"Better hurry, Miss Callie. And don't worry, ain't a slave on this place that would turn you back over to him!"

Callie could think of no words to say, so she quietly turned her horse and disappeared into the darkness, shivering as she passed her family's graveyard and the freshly turned earth within the iron gates.

"Find her! I want her back here!" The Senator roared again, and Callie could imagine him standing there, his face blood red and his veins standing out on his forehead, visible from the distance. She'd seen him angry plenty of times, and knew the consequences of it, but she'd never seen him this furious. She shivered in disgust and in fright and escaped into the night, not daring to glance at her home again for fear her heart would fracture right down the center.

* * *

Callie was well aware of the looks cast her way as she rode down the dusty street of a town in Texas. Passing through unnoticed wasn't really an option. Her dress, though covered in dust and torn at the hem, was far more ornate than the simple dresses of the few women there. They eyed the royal blue silk and lace resentfully. 

"Fanciest dress I ever seen on a whore!" Someone yelled from the porch of the saloon and several drunk male voices erupted into loud laughter, "How much you charge to take it off?"

Callie turned her head slowly toward the men, her eyes on fire. She turned her horse in the street, glaring coldly at them.

"You trying to figure out your price, darlin'?" The drunk yelled again, spurred on by his buddies. Anger flared in Callie's heart, as she fought to control herself. Failing to find that control and acting against her better judgement, Callie kicked Ghost and the horse leapt over to the porch, stopping only inches shy of jumping up on it. The men moved back quickly.

"You could offer me every bit of gold in this world, and I wouldn't take off my glove for you!" She hissed, and his friends laughed at his expense.

The man grew angry, "Why you little…" He started toward her threateningly.

Callie's hand tightened on her riding crop, and she started to ride away. She wasn't surprised when he stumbled to her and placed a dirty hand on her ankle, and without a second thought she raised her crop and brought it down with incredible force about the man's head and shoulders.

"You've no right to me!" Callie told him in her best lady-of-the-manor air.

The man, who'd fallen to the ground, looked up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. Callie turned to ride away, but his voice rang out behind her, "Maybe you ain't no whore yet, but I can tell you one thing Missy! You keep on riding around on your own, you will be soon! You mark my words!"

Callie's shoulders stiffened but she didn't turn around. The man's words burned into her memory and she absentmindedly fiddled with the fine material of her dress. The money she had wasn't going to last forever, and she'd already seen that there were no more opportunities for single women in the West than there had been in the South. In fact, that was what had gotten her into trouble in the first place.

She raised her chin as the townsfolk whispered about her. No doubt they thought she was some sort of kept woman too. _None of them know!_ she thought as she looked at them defiantly, _None of them know that once I was one of the finest ladies in New Orleans and that suitors sought me from as far away as New York City!_

She continued pushing Northwest, having no where to go, but knowing that if she ever stopped running it would be the death of her.

* * *

The months passed by, and fall turned into winter. Callie grew weary and ill, but still she moved from town to town, finding work where she could, going hungry when she couldn't. She was too proud to take any form of charity, and often fared the worse for it. She was in Nebraska when finally she knew she could go no further. There were no honest jobs for women anywhere, and she still refused to sell her body or her soul. 

Jarvis Malone found her in a little town far from any other. He was on his way back to Rock Creek, where he'd recently opened a saloon and gambling hall when he found her. As he was putting his horse in the stables he happened to see a flash of emerald green in the corner of the stall of a beautiful Arabian.

A woman, or rather as a closer look revealed-a girl, was huddled in the straw. She was dressed in what had once been a pricey taffeta gown, but now the material was spotted and torn. Her hair was black, maybe the darkest he'd ever seen. Her skin was pale except for the flush of fever and the bite of the wind on her cheeks and forehead. Her features were classic, the small aristocratic nose, the high cheekbones, the fine, straight teeth. For all that, though, she was in very poor health--her hair was lank and lusterless and her face too gaunt.

Suddenly, she sensed someone near by and her eyes flew open. Jarvis nearly laughed aloud with glee as he looked into the oddest blue eyes he had ever seen. _By God, she'd draw a pretty price!_ he thought, shaking his head When she climbed to her feet, Jarvis noticed instantly how unsteady she was. If she was this fetching when she was both hungry and ill, then what did the girl look like in good health? Being an opportunist and a profiteer, he found himself anxious to find out.

"What do you want?" she growled with the look of a hunted animal, her teeth almost bared.

"My dear, have no fear! I merely meant to inquire as to why a young lady such as yourself would be huddling in the straw?"

"None of your business!" the girl snapped.

"Why I could surely help you out," Jarvis began, "I'm very wealthy."

"I'm not a whore! I don't want your money and I'm not going to bed down with you!" she said bitterly, as if she'd been asked to do just that several times.

Jarvis raised his eyebrows. There was definite fight in this one! He sensed that if he wasn't careful she'd flee, and he couldn't have that. "Miss, you are obviously a lady worthy of respect and care! It is my duty as a gentleman to assist you any way I know how! Please, let me take you into the hotel and get you some coffee to warm you!" Jarvis said softly, "We'll talk more there."

Her gaze traveled over his well-cut suit, and then she met his eyes. They seemed kind enough, at least compared to those she'd seen lately. His southern drawl and mannerly speech appealed to her and a wave of homesickness passed over her at the familiar cadence of it.

She almost agreed, but some sense of uneasiness came rushing through her veins like so much ice water. She shook her head, "No Sir, thank you. I can take care of myself."

"Please Miss, you are clearly very sick and cold! I'd ask nothing from you, if that's what you are afraid of!"

"I don't need any charity!" Her words were forceful, but her vehemence cost her and she fainted dead, crashing into the straw at the horse's feet.

* * *

It seemed to be torture for Callie to force her eyes open, but after long minutes of avoiding it, she finally opened them a crack. Two things occurred to her. One, she was very comfortable. Two, she was indoors. With a startled gasp, she sat up and looked wildly around. She was in a blissfully warm hotel room and was wearing a flannel nightgown that didn't belong to her, yet fit perfectly. 

"Ah, good, you are awake!" A voice said from the corner of the room

Callie gasped again and flung herself around. "Who are you?" She demanded of the businessman who'd tried to help her in the stables, "Where am I?"

"I am Jarvis Malone my dear," He said, standing up and performing a little bow that seemed to Callie to be almost mocking, "And you are in the hotel. You passed out cold in the stable. I took the liberty of calling a doctor, who has pronounced you nearly starving and in very poor health to boot."

"Why are you doing this? What do you want?" Callie growled, clutching at the thick blankets of the bed. How nice they were! How warm and soft! She didn't want to fight him--she only wanted him to go away and leave her to sleep.

"Your name would do," Malone smiled. Callie knew he was trying to be disarming, to put her at ease, but she found his smile made her nervous.

Callie sighed. She couldn't pay the man back. The least she could do was tell him her name. He seemed sincere enough. "I'm Callie Sullivan," She finally said, and the sound of her own name seemed strange. It was the first time she'd heard it in weeks. As soon as she'd said it, she wondered at the wisdom of doing so.

"Miss Sullivan, now, I must ask, why are you traveling around alone? A lady such as yourself can meet with horrible dangers here in the West."

Jarvis narrowed his eyes as the girl all but bolted from the bed.

"I-I have to go," She stammered, frantically grabbing at her small carpet bag. Jarvis had been through it and found nothing but the finest of clothing, and an old photograph of a very young Callie with four young men and a couple--her family, he assumed. Jarvis was quick to walk to the girl and put an arm about her shoulders. She tensed up as if she was ready to strike him, but Jarvis was careful. He gently turned her away from her belongings and walked her back toward the bed.

"All right, Miss Sullivan," He coaxed her, "No more questions you don't want to answer! You are going to stay here for a few days and rest, and then we'll talk of possibilities for your future."

"I told you, I'm not going to be your…"

He smiled slightly, "And I heard you, and have noted that fact. While I do find you beautiful, my dear, I know you are not that sort of woman. Even if you were, I'm hardly in the business of buying and selling children. I have a business, and assuming that you are educated, I think I may have a need for you."

Callie sighed. It was charity, she was sure. But it was an opportunity to earn money and do it without scrubbing floors or selling her body. She looked at him through eyes that had lost their spark.

"I can't ever repay you for this kindness, sir," she began, painfully swallowing her pride.

Jarvis smiled, "Some day, you'll repay me my dear. Now rest."

Callie was too sick to argue, and she eased herself back under the blankets as he left the room. However, just before she drifted off to sleep she heard the quiet "click" of the lock at the door and realized he was locking her in the room. Callie bolted upright and silently walked to the door, pressing her ear against it.

Then she heard Malone's voice. "She's resting. Make sure she doesn't leave!"

Callie found her hands trembling in fury. How dare he try to hold her here against her will! He had no right-unless…

A horrible thought struck her, and she wondered if perhaps he knew who she was, if the Senator had moved quickly enough to catch her, or at least to spread word that he was looking for her. Cursing herself for giving him her name, Callie opened her carpetbag and pulled out her warmest dress, a burgundy velvet riding habit all the way from Paris. She stuffed the warm nightgown in with her other clothing and moved toward the window.

She had to get away. She would die before she'd ever stand before that man again! She'd failed in killing him, but if she went back, by God, she would kill him or die with the trying. She took great pains to be quiet as she opened the window, and had almost made it out safely when her door was flung open. Before she knew what was happening a man grabbed her around the waist and drug her back inside, clamping a hand over her mouth to stop her screams. She fought him like a wildcat, but she was weak and only succeeded in delivering a few painful blows before her strength left her.

She was still fighting weakly when Jarvis walked into the room. He sat down in the chair and crossed his legs in what Callie thought was a feminine manner. Her eyes followed him uncertainly.

"Leaving so soon?" he wondered and nodded for his gunman to take his hand away from her mouth.

"You've no right to keep me here!" She hissed, "I'll call the marshal!"

Jarvis stood up and held out a rolled piece of paper. He extended it only inches in front of her nose and let it unroll. Callie felt tears well in her eyes as she found herself staring at an accurate drawing of herself.

"I don't think you want to call the marshal, my dear." Jarvis read the poster aloud, "Wanted for murder and robbery, Miss Callie Sullivan. $1000. Alive." He took the paper away and raised his eyebrows, "One of the biggest bounties I've ever seen, Callie. Someone, my dear, wants you back awful badly. I can't say that I blame him."

"You aren't a bounty hunter," Callie said simply.

"No, I'm a business man," Jarvis responded agreeably, "And you and I are about to make a deal."

"I'm not making any deals with you!"

"Shall I call the marshal then?" Jarvis asked, "I could certainly use $1000."

"You're a son of a…"

"Careful Callie, cursing isn't very ladylike!" Jarvis grinned, and laughed when she tried to lunge for him.

Callie sighed, knowing she'd reached the end of her rope and that she was trapped, "What do you want?" she asked quietly, acknowledging defeat. For the moment.

"All you have to do is everything I say, and I'll let this be our little secret. However, you go against my wishes once, and I hand you over to the law and collect my bounty."

"I'm not going to be your whore! I'd rather hang!" Callie repeated violently.

"Don't flatter yourself my dear," Jarvis laughed, "Don't act as if you are some high and mighty Southern belle, because I know the truth. You are a thief and a murderess. I'm not so sure I would bed down with you. My customers however, are another story!"

Callie kept her chin high with defiance until they both had backed from the room, and then collapsed on the bed, mind and heart racing in her panic. She saw no way out of her new prison--and she never doubted that imprisoned was exactly what she was--she should know, she'd spent a lot of time as a captive. _I'm a lady!_ she thought over and over, and in realizing that being a lady was part of a rapidly disappearing past, she fell into a restless sleep with her tears dampening the pillow beneath her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Heroes and Fools

Jimmy sighed and paused after stepping through the doors of the dim saloon, allowing his eyes to adjust. For long moments all he saw was spots of blue and red--the result of a long ride under a bright sun. He was thirsty and he was tired. "Sarsaparilla," He told the bar keep, who had stopped kidding the Pony Express riders about their refusal to drink whiskey long ago.

"Hey Jimmy," a familiar voice greeted him, and Jimmy glanced over to see Buck and Cody propping up against the bar, "Saw you ride in and head straight here. Thought you must have had a bad ride."

"Had better, had worse," Jimmy responded, and let the drink slide down his parched throat, carrying at least some of the trail dust with it. He squinted, still waiting for his eyes to become accustomed to the dim and smoky saloon. He turned companionably around and stood with Buck and Cody with his back to the bar, observing the activities of the saloon--noting the improvements made since the new owner had taken control of the establishment.

"Would you look at that," Buck suddenly said, and Jimmy and Cody followed his eyes.

Jimmy vaguely noticed that his jaw dropped and stayed open when his gaze fell on one of the prettiest girls he'd never seen in his lifetime. For a moment, he thought that the sunlight must have done permanent damage to his eyes, but after blinking and rubbing his eyes once, she was still there. She was tall and slender, with long black hair that fell in waves to her waist. Her face was pale and fine, almost like a porcelain doll. Her eyes were her most arresting feature though, Jimmy realized as his heart thumped against his chest when she turned her gaze toward the bar. They were such a bright, deep blue that they were almost purple--even across the distance they flashed with restrained anger and indignity. Her whole demeanor was defiant and wary.

Yet Jimmy sensed something else about her from the way her eyes darted around her rapidly.

Fear. She was afraid of something.

"What in the hell is a woman like that doing in a place like this?" Cody asked, snapping Jimmy out of what had almost been a trance.

"She sticks out, that's for sure," Buck agreed.

"She's just a girl, really," Cody pointed out. She couldn't have been more than seventeen or eighteen.

Jimmy's eyes narrowed as he watched the girl set a drink down in front of a gambler. The man's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he looked at her, apparently having liked what he saw as much as Jimmy, Cody, and Buck. Not content to look only, he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into his lap. Without effectively masking her fury, the girl tried to disentangle herself without causing a scene. Her eyes darted to the owner of the establishment, Jarvis Malone, but he was engrossed in a conversation with a businessman.

"Get your hands off me!" She hissed, and began fighting in earnest, her eyes continuously darting nervously to Jarvis. Jimmy wasn't sure if she expected him to intercede or to punish her for fighting back.

"Now you heard your boss! He said to be friendly to me," The gambler drawled and his hands only grew more bold and his words more suggestive. Those improper words were suddenly cut off as an arm circled him from behind and squeezed tight enough that he couldn't draw a full breath. He released the girl and she jumped to her feet, straightening her mussed clothing.

Jimmy cocked his gun and held it to the man's head, his voice low and dangerous in the gambler's ear. When the men playing with the gambler went for their weapons, Cody and Buck were quick to draw their own guns and persuade them to return their hands to the table.

"The lady obviously don't like your company. Next time a lady don't like your company and you try to convince her otherwise, I'll make damn sure you don't never draw a breath of air again…Understand?"

The man had broken out into a sweat, but still attempted to save face as he choked out, "I don't think you know what you're doing. This girl is paid to like my company!"

The remark angered Jimmy, though he wasn't sure why. It was, after all, the truth, "Get out of here!"

"I'm not going any…"

"_Get out_!" Jimmy roared, "Or you'll be carried out in a box! And don't come back!"

The gambler nearly ran from the saloon. His friends followed at a much more dignified pace.

Jimmy, Cody, and Buck turned to face the girl who was staring at them with a cross of disbelief and annoyance. "You all right miss?" Jimmy wondered softly, looking into her eyes, which weren't any friendlier looking at them than they had been with the gambler.

She didn't answer them, her jaw was tightly clenched.

"They won't be back to bother you anymore, you can count on that," Jimmy tried to assure her.

Her eyes widened in disbelief and then snapped with anger as she hissed at them, "You're right, they won't be back! And the business this place loses because of that will come out of my pay! Next time you want to play the big heroes and wave your big guns, why don't you do it for someone _that asks for your help_!"

Jimmy, Cody, and Buck all stared in shock as she turned on her heel and stormed away.

"If that ain't the oddest thank you I ever did hear," Cody began.

"Let's just go," Buck said, catching the look of the new owner as he caught wind of the commotion. He and Cody started to walk towards the door. Jimmy stood where he was, staring after the girl.

"Come on, Jimmy, she ain't worth it," Cody told him. "She don't want your help neither."

That angered Jimmy and he wasn't sure why. The woman's voice, a softly cultured southern voice seemed to burn into his memory. She had breeding, Jimmy thought, every thing but the fact that she was working in a saloon suggested that. She didn't belong here, of that he was certain. He tried to shrug off the woman as another saloon girl, but something made him glance back over his shoulder before Cody and Buck dragged him from the saloon. He spotted her, standing in the shadows looking back at him. Her angry guard had dropped and she looked forlorn and scared, and very, very much alone.

When she realized he'd caught her looking the softness left her and she flung herself around and stalked off in the other direction.

* * *

"I'm telling you boys, she was the prettiest woman I've ever seen in my life!" Cody insisted around a mouthful of food. 

"Yeah, and one of the meanest!" Buck added, "I mean, that man had his hands all over her, and she was trying to get away from him, anyone could see that. But when Jimmy helped her, she turned on all of us!"

Teaspoon glanced at Jimmy, who had been pushing his food around his plate for some time now. He'd not said a word about the girl, and Cody and Buck couldn't stop talking about her.

"You're awful quiet tonight, Jimmy," Teaspoon commented, wiping the corner of his mouth with a napkin.

Jimmy glanced up in surprise. Before he could say anything, Cody chimed in, "Yeah, Jimmy looked like a puppy! His mouth dropped about to the floor when he first saw her and his eyes went big! If he had a tail, it would have wagged right off his backside. 'Course, ain't never seen him move so fast as when that gambler grabbed her."

Jimmy turned a brilliant shade of red.

Kid, who had just returned from a three-day run, stopped shoveling food in his mouth long enough to point out, "She works in a saloon, Jimmy. Having men touch her is part of the job. You ought to remember that. She chose to be there."

Jimmy glared at Kid. "So you saying Lou deserved to be raped by that Wicks fellow cause she was working in a whorehouse?"

Kid's fork clattered to his plate as he looked at Jimmy in shock. The others all held their breath, looking on as Kid and Jimmy exchanged a long and charged look. It hadn't been that long ago that all of them had learned that a young Lou had done laundry in a whorehouse and eventually been raped by the owner before getting away. Her entire young adult life had entailed her protecting herself from experiencing that fate again; she'd sacrificed her womanhood for her safety, and only recently had she tried to be Louise again.

"I'm sorry," Jimmy said before Kid could react. "I had no call bringing Lou into this. Not like that."

"Lou was a child!" Kid said through clenched teeth, still angry with Jimmy. "This woman you are talking about is old enough to have a choice!"

"Don't be so sure Kid," Rachel said quietly, speaking for the first time, "There ain't a whole lot a woman can do out here to feed herself."

"There must be something!" Kid disagreed, but remembered his words to Lou upon discovering her secret.

Isn't there something else you can do?  
Why? I already proved I'm as good as you. Hickok, Cody, any of you.

Kid guessed Lou had known better than most what her other options were. He found himself infinitely relieved he'd agreed to keep her secret until Teaspoon was ready to hear it.

Teaspoon shook his head, "Rachel's right, son. You can't go judging a woman because of that! Lord knows it ain't right, but it ain't always her fault!"

"Besides, this woman was different than most of those other saloon girls," Cody said.

"How so?" Noah wondered.

"You could just tell she was, well, better than the other ones," Buck explained. "It was like she knew it and so did they...and they all hated her for it and she hated them too."

"She had a lady's way about her," Jimmy agreed, "I don't care what you say Kid, the girl came from money. You could see it in her eyes, in the way she talked to us. She don't belong there."

Kid shrugged. He may have been poor all his life, but he'd been brought up in the Southern tradition, and had a very clear idea of right and wrong. Things had always been black and white for him, and there was very little that fit into the gray area. Women with money and breeding didn't end up in saloons in his experience. He sighed, "all right, so maybe she did have money at one time. Doesn't matter. She doesn't now, and if she works at the saloon she's going to have to earn her money other ways!"

Jimmy fought off the unexplainable urge to wrap his hands around his best friend's throat. Once Kid made up his mind about something, wasn't much chance of changing it. "You'd feel differently if you saw her," was all Jimmy said.

Later that night, after pacing the bunkhouse nervously all afternoon, Jimmy stood up.

"Where you going, Jimmy?" Noah wondered, though he knew the answer.

"Out for some air. And to maybe pick up those supplies Teaspoon wanted from Tompkins store."

"Mmm-hmmm," Cody said, rolling his eyes, "If you're going back to see her, why don't you just say so?"

"Why don't you just mind your own business?" Jimmy snapped back, blushing.

Kid stood up, "I'll go with you. I want to see this fancy saloon girl for myself!"

Jimmy's look told Kid he'd rather him not go, but a curiosity had been born in Kid, and he was determined. Arguing would have been a waste of both time and breath.

"I wouldn't rescue her again," Buck called out, "She'll probably shoot you for thanks!"

Laughter followed Jimmy into the dusk, but he left it behind as he moved to the saloon with Kid.

* * *

"I'm not going to do this!" Callie stated, as Jarvis Malone held out a bright red dress. 

"You are too!" he hissed, "unless you'd like me to get the marshal!"

Callie sighed, bowing her head to rub her temples. Had it only been a month since Jarvis Malone had first discovered her and began to coerce her? Had it only been two weeks since she'd arrived in Rock Creek and been thrust into the hell of a saloon girl's life? It seemed like years and she wasn't sure how much further she could carry the charade before she could take it no longer.

She'd lost every fight but one. She told Jarvis right away that if he planned on making her a prostitute he could just go ahead and turn her over to the marshal. The snide little man with the balding head and horn-rimmed glasses had backed down on that one account, knowing that she meant it. Now he stood before her and told her she would entertain some of his business friends that night. He expected her to tend to them all, as well as sing for their amusement. She'd made the mistake of singing quietly while she worked, and he'd heard her voice and insisted she perform.

"This dress is indecent!" She said disdainfully as she snatched the silk out of his hands and held it up, "I might as well not wear anything at all!"

"Always a possibility," Jarvis warned her. He tried to appeal to her practical side, "Callie, don't you realize what an asset you are to this place? Men from all over town are coming in just to get a glance at you! Couldn't you be more personable? Perhaps then you could make a bit more money. I'm wouldn't object to selling you your freedom, for the right price."

"My freedom isn't for sale!" Callie snapped, "And no, I could not be more personable! I hate these stupid, dirty people and their stupid little town! Idiots, every one of them! Two-bit heroes and washed up has-beens! Most of them probably can't even read and you expect me to perform for them like some pet monkey!"

Jarvis suddenly reached out and gripped her arm painfully, wrenching her closer to him. "You, Miss Sullivan, are too proud! You think yourself better than all these people, but look at you! You're a murderess and a thief, and like it or not, a saloon girl! You've got nothing to your name but the clothes and the roof I provided!"

"I'm not entertaining your abolitionist friends!" she snapped again, choosing to argue about the situation at hand, "You'll be sorry if you make me!"

His hand snaked out and he struck her across the cheek hard, "You'll be sorrier if you don't!"

Her eyes were wide in surprise as she brought her hand up to cover her stinging cheek. "There was a time that would have cost you your life!" She whispered miserably.

"Ah, the good old days," Jarvis said unsympathetically, "Chivalrous men and slaves to wait on you hand and foot! You'll have to get over that! I'm tired of being patient. You are just going to have to get used to the fact this is your life now, and that I control it! I'm warning you now, from now on going against my wishes will have swift and severe consequences. Put that dress on and get downstairs in the next fifteen minutes or you'll wish you were never born!"

"I already do!" She hurled the words at him before he closed the door. Callie sighed when he was gone, feeling defeated and hating herself for not having more courage to stand up to him, or to allow him to turn her in. She quickly dressed in the gown he'd brought her, then glanced in the mirror.

The gown _was_ indecent. It cut so low that she wondered if her breasts might fall out of it. Her shoulders and chest were completely bare, and if someone was inclined to stand directly before her, she supposed he could also see straight down to her navel, as she could. The dress bright red silk, a color no lady would wear, never mind the cut. She found her eyes in the mirror and looked at what she'd become.

She hated what she saw.

* * *

"Is that her?" Kid asked for the tenth time, just as he had for every other saloon girl that walked by. 

Jimmy glared at his friend and for the tenth time repeated, "I told you, Kid. You'll know when you see her!"

"She can't be that beautiful, Jimmy."

"She is," Jimmy said softly and Kid was amused by the far away look in his eyes.

"Looks like Malone has some high and mighty friends around tonight," Kid said, rather than comment on Jimmy's obvious and instant adoration of this saloon girl he'd seen once in his life. Jimmy was in the habit of falling quickly and blindly in love. It had almost gotten him killed more than once.

"Yeah. Bunch of abolitionist business men," Jimmy said distractedly.

"I thought Malone was a Southerner," Kid said.

Jimmy shrugged. "He is, but that doesn't mean he won't accept Northern money for his business ventures."

Kid nodded and let his gaze slide around the room. Suddenly a flash of bright red on the staircase caught his eye. His eyes widened and knew Jimmy was right. He did know it was her. She wore a dress that exposed quite a bit of her pale and well-tended white skin. That pale skin was a startling contrast to her ink black hair. Her hair was long and wavy, and flowed freely about her face and shoulders. Her eyes, another unexpected contrast, seemed to blaze across the room.

"There she is," Kid said, and Jimmy straightened with interest and nearly broke his neck as he struggled to get a good look at her.

Callie's eyes instantly fell on Jimmy, and she remembered the man's act to save her with a cross of anger and amusement. She'd thought he must be some kind of bounty hunter when he walked in that afternoon, judging from his ivory handled colts, but instead he'd actually tried to help her, not hurt her. That was a curious and novel deed to her these days, she realized with a pang of sorrow, and felt curious about the man staring at her now.

"Come my dear, you've some important people to meet," Jarvis said, fingers digging into her arm, "Glad you could make it!"

Jimmy's eyes narrowed as he watched Jarvis secure her arm in a death grip. The look she cast him should have killed the little man, but alas, he still breathed.

"Easy Jimmy," Kid warned him softly when Jimmy tensed. The girl followed him obediently, and was hidden from sight by the pack of men that surrounded her.

"Okay, you're right. She doesn't belong here," Kid finally admitted.

Jimmy would have commented but suddenly Jarvis was standing on a small stage, with the girl at his side, her arm still secured in his vise-like grip. She looked as if she'd like to either shoot him or bolt. Jimmy suspected either one would do just fine for her.

"Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce Miss Callie Sullivan, an honest to God Southern Belle. Not only is she truly one of the most beautiful women in the West, she also sings like a lark! She's so excited tonight to provide you good men with entertainment!"

A roar of applause went up, and Kid glanced at Jimmy.

"She looks about as excited as a condemned man," Kid commented.

Jimmy stared at the girl. So her name was Callie. The name had never sounded so beautiful before then. Callie didn't attempt to mask her fury and distaste as Jarvis left her alone to stand on the stage. She stood in sullen silence, glaring defiantly at the men below her as they gawked at her and her revealing dress. She fought the flush that crept up her neck and into her cheeks, but soon she knew she had two rosy spots on each cheek.

Jimmy's heart went out to her as she stood there blushing. Though she was obviously embarrassed, her chin remained high with stubborn pride--yet it was clear enough that she was bothered and ashamed to be the object of the kind of attention she was getting.

Jimmy grinned as Jarvis marched back up onto the stage when Callie only stood there, his face as red as Callie's dress. However his smile faded as Malone roughly took her arm and spoke into her ear. Jimmy couldn't imagine what he'd said to her to make her lose her blush and turn so pale so quickly. Obviously shaken, she turned and watched as he stormed off, trying to laugh off the girl's behavior as stage fright.

Suddenly the fear left her face, and fury and defiance were back. The still girl suddenly sprang to life, and threw her dazzling smile over the crowded room. Jimmy actually felt his breath catch at that smile. "Good evening, gentlemen! Welcome!" Her words were bright, but Jimmy sensed the anger running beneath every word, the dangerous fury that simmered beneath all her movement.

"Sing for us, Miss Callie!" One of the men shouted, and the rest responded with applause and whistles.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and then she smiled brightly. "I have just the song for you gentlemen!" With that she pulled herself to her full height in the middle of the stage and purposefully avoided Jarvis Malone's probing eyes.

"Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton! Old times there are not forgotten, look away, look away, look away, Dixieland!"

Kid and Jimmy exchanged shocked glances as she zealously continued with the next verse. _Dixie_, an anthem of the South, was hardly appropriate for a crowd of abolitionist businessmen. The men murmured and looked to Jarvis for an explanation, but he was open-mouthed with shock himself.

She'd made a complete fool out of him.

Kid felt a chill run along his skin from head to toe as she sang the beloved Southern song with all her heart and soul. Her voice was a beautiful, clear soprano, and he saw that the hair stood upright on Jimmy's arms too as she finished the last note.

Silence greeted her when she finished the song. Kid and Jimmy burst into applause after the last note had died, and she curtseyed deeply, as if the whole room was giving her an ovation. Jimmy saw the flash of teeth as she grinned in triumph just before dropping her head in another curtsey. Slowly, Jarvis' friends began applauding politely.

Obviously elated from the enjoyment of embarrassing Jarvis, she became animated, flashing her smile coyly at the men she'd just offended. They found it hard to be too offended, Jimmy realized, so engaging was her smile.

"Encore!" A drunk voice called from the back of the room. Jimmy saw the devil in her eyes as she began "I'm a good old Southern girl!"

Jimmy glanced at Kid and they burst into laughter at the girl's spirit.

Jarvis, unable to take any more from her, stormed onto the stage and grabbed her arm. "You'll be sorry!" He told her, much louder than he'd intended. The whole room heard her cry out with pain as he wrenched her arm viciously and began dragging her off the stage. Her feet became tangled in her dress and she fell. As Jarvis drug her a few steps while she fought to get her feet under her, Jimmy stood up, letting his chair crash to the ground behind him.

"Jimmy, this isn't your fight!" Kid warned him, placing a hand on his friend's chest to keep him from charging forward, "there's nothing you can do!"

Jarvis broke from the crowd and stood in the middle of the room, with Callie still in his clutches and suddenly looking very pale indeed. "I've got a once in a lifetime opportunity gentlemen! Who would like to take this Southern wench upstairs? Top bidder takes her for the entire night!"

Callie finally tore her arm from his bruising grasp, bolting for the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A New Profession

Everyone stood in shock for a moment, watching the girl in the bright red dress stumbling for the door. Jarvis Malone sprang to action first, as he bolted after her, "Callie! You'd better stop if you value your life!"

She burst into the night.

Jimmy started after her, his hand resting on his gun. Kid stepped in front of his friend and put his hands on Jimmy's chest. Jimmy was thrown off balance and stumbled backwards. He soon started forward again, only to have Kid block his path a second time.

They locked eyes, blue and brown, both fierce.

"Kid," Jimmy warned, his square jaw tightly clenched, "Move aside!"

"Jimmy, you are getting in the middle of something you ain't got no business stepping into!" Kid growled, not budging.

They stood toe to toe, glaring at each other a second longer.

"I'm not going to ask you again Kid. Now, get out of my way, or I'll make you!"

"Jimmy..." Kid began.

Jimmy wouldn't hear him out. With a quick shove, Jimmy pushed Kid, who stumbled backwards over his chair and crashed to the floor.

"You're a damn fool!" Kid cried after him, scrambling to his feet in the hope he could keep his friend from getting himself or the girl hurt.

Jimmy paid him no heed and charged into the night.

* * *

Jarvis caught Callie just as she reached the bottom stairs of the saloon porch. He grabbed her arm, his fingers clutching the material of her sleeve. It tore easily as she continued to try to run. As even more of her pale shoulder was exposed, she slowed down, giving Jarvis the chance to wrap his hands around her already sore upper arms.

"You bitch!" He screamed at her, "How dare you embarrass me in front of my friends!"

Callie, in a flash of bravado snapped back at him, "Me! You are the one who dressed me up like a whore and then stood me on the stage for all the world to look on! You deserve it!"

"You _are_ a whore!" Jarvis told her, "Starting tonight!"

"No! I told you I'd never do that!" She screamed, struggling to get away again.

"Stand still, damn it!" Jarvis warned her. When she continued fighting, he brought a hand across her cheek. When that still did not curb her struggle, he began shaking her violently. She cried out as her neck snapped back and forth, and she bit her lip during the forceful display. From out of nowhere, a blur appeared over her left shoulder and hit Jarvis at full tilt, knocking him away from her.

Callie cried out as she fell backwards and landed in a pool of crimson fabric with an unladylike "oomph!"

Soon gentle hands were reaching down and gently grasping her arms, pulling her to her feet.

"Miss, are you all right?" A quiet voice asked.

Callie spun around and met the eyes of the young man who had helped her earlier that day.

"I-I'm fine..." Callie stuttered, her head still reeling from Jarvis' rough handling. She could still taste warm, salty blood from where she'd bitten her lip. She turned toward Jarvis, who was now pinned by his attacker, and finally understood that Jarvis had been knocked away from her by another man.

That man stood up quickly, dragging Jarvis with him by the lapels of his now-dusty jacket. He turned around and Callie studied him. He was an older man with long silver hair and a ridiculous black hat. His face was covered in stubble, and his body had grown soft with years spent out of the saddle. His eyes, however, were alive and piercing. When he looked at her with those eyes, Callie felt a blush rise in her cheeks, as if he knew everything about her in that one glance, "Miss, are you all right?" He asked with a gravelly voice, giving Jarvis a hard shake when he tried to pull away. "Damn it, you stay still or we'll spare the expense of a trial!"

Callie nodded, and wordlessly pulled the torn sleeve of her gown up over her shoulder. It instantly slid off again.

"Teaspoon, he roughed her up pretty badly," Jimmy began, and Callie glanced at him quickly, her eyebrows furrowed in disapproval.

"It wasn't bad," she said softly, "I'm fine." The trembling of her voice suggested otherwise.

Jarvis smiled, knowing the girl was trying to regain his favor, was asking him for forgiveness. She wouldn't have it that easily.

"From the looks of you, I'd guess differently, Miss," Teaspoon said softly, and Callie met his eyes. For all his hardness, she knew him to be a good-hearted man, much like the younger man that had called him "Teaspoon" and seemed determined to protect her. He dug in his pocket and handed her a handkerchief. "Your lip is bleeding, Miss."

"Just a little disagreement, _Marshal_," Jarvis drawled, and he smiled when he saw Callie stiffen and take note of the silver star on Teaspoon Hunter's shirt. The handkerchief she'd taken went forgotten in her hand as she starred at the badge.

That's right, my dear. Don't start thinking of running to this old fool for help! He thought.

Callie quickly nodded in agreement with Jarvis' description of the situation, and Teaspoon noticed she was avoiding his eyes and keeping her head turned away from him. She finally said, "it's all right, sir. Thank you for your concern. It was a misunderstanding is all."

"What I saw was not all right!" Teaspoon thundered, loudly enough so that the crowd that had gathered on the porch could hear, "And Jarvis, you're spending the night in jail! You ain't gonna disturb the peace like that and beat up on this girl and then go back to your party! I've warned you about beating up on these women before!"

Jarvis turned a bright shade of red in shame and fury for being so insulted in front of all his important friends. Callie closed her eyes, not even able to imagine his wrath when he got back. She knew he would not turn her in--not yet. Not until after he made her pay for what she'd done to him tonight. Escape was out of the question. Jarvis' henchmen would guard her more closely tonight than usual.

She shivered slightly as she thought of his return the next day. She wanted to plead with the Marshal to let Jarvis go, but knew it would be to no avail.

Teaspoon didn't miss the tremor that seized the girl and turned to the younger man. "Jimmy," he instructed, keeping a tight hold of Jarvis, "show this lady to her room please."

Kid came down the stairs to stand by Teaspoon. "Kid, you stay here and make sure all these fine folks clear out and go home. Party is over, gentlemen! Saloon's closing for the night!"

Callie closed her eyes in disbelief. Not only would Jarvis punish her for her performance, for his confinement, but she'd also have the sin of losing a night's worth of business to atone for.

Teaspoon began hauling Jarvis toward the jail.

Callie didn't wait on Jimmy to start back for her room. She nearly bolted up the stairs of the porch. The remaining customers scattered to let her pass, and Jimmy didn't catch up with her until she was inside the building.

"I suppose you're mad about that too?" Jimmy wondered as he fell into step beside her.

She glanced at him, and anger rose in his throat when he saw her bleeding lip.

She sighed, too weary for anger. "No one seems to understand that these little acts of heroism only serve to make things much harder on me once you fools ride off into the sunset!"

"So why don't you leave?" Jimmy wondered.

"This is really none of your concern," Callie shot back at him as she began taking the stairs two at a time, obviously ready to be rid of him. His long stride kept up with her easily.

"You just don't belong here," Jimmy said softly, "You're a lady."

She paused mid-stair and stared at him, not able to hide the sudden tears that sprang to her eyes. He was the only man she'd come into contact with that cared who or what she was. He looked troubled to have caused her tears and for a moment was speechless and awkward, unsure of what to do about the tears.

Callie regained her composure and started toward her room, wanting to put distance between her and this man with the gentle way about him. She had the feeling that he, like the marshal, could see straight to her heart, and that was something she didn't dare let happen. She hardly dared to look there herself.

"I don't understand why you are here, Miss Sullivan!"

She closed her eyes and bowed her head, glad that he was slightly behind her so he couldn't see the fresh tears that stung her eyes, "I don't suppose you do understand, being a damn fool."

The words wounded him, she knew, and she was truly sorry for having hurt him. However, letting him get close to her would be a thousand times more hurtful...and more dangerous to both of them! For all she knew he could be as corrupt and repulsive as Jarvis or the Senator! She'd been fooled by men before. She vowed not to be so foolish again.

She paused outside her room and fumbled with the lock and key.

He came to lean against the frame in front of her. He watched her steadily. Under his piercing gaze her hands fumbled and she dropped the key. She let out an exasperated sigh of frustration.

They both reached for it at the same time, and their heads crashed together.

"I'm sorry!" Jimmy exclaimed, placing a hand to his aching temple.

She had her eyes closed and her arched eyebrows wrinkled in pain. To Jimmy's surprise, the slightest of smiles creased her mouth as she opened her thundercloud eyes slightly to squint at him. "I'm not going to survive your nobility much longer."

Jimmy waved the key they'd injured themselves retrieving and said, "Better let me do it! Stand back!"

She stood back and watched as he opened the door, doing her best to hide her widening smile but failing miserably. She didn't look at him as she let herself in. He stood there wordlessly, watching to see that she got all the way in safely before he considered budging.

She started to slam the door in his face, but something in his probing eyes stopped her and she looked at him, trying to figure him out. What was his motive, what was his interest in her?

"You aren't a damn fool," She said quickly, as if she was in a hurry to have the apology over with.

"Thank you...I think," Jimmy grinned, knowing fully well how she must hate to swallow her pride. He grew solemn as he watched her face fall, and her eyes slide away from his. The next words out of her mouth were even harder for her to say. As she drew a deep breath, Jimmy waited patiently, wondering what she was going to tell him.

"I just wanted you to know...that I'm not..." She swallowed hard and looked into his eyes fully, leaving Jimmy feeling short of breath, "I'm not a wh-whore."

She watched as his face broke into the easiest of smiles. "Miss Sullivan, you didn't need to tell me that. I know you're a lady," Jimmy looked away from her eyes for a moment, then let his gaze find hers again, "And nothing could ever convince me otherwise."

Her eyes dropped doubtfully, and Jimmy suppressed the urge to push her for an explanation of how she'd ended up here. Something told him that gaining her trust would have to be done slowly or not at all. Instead he bent down to catch her eyes, which were staring at the floor. His willful stare made her raise her eyes and look at him fully.

"Nothing could change my mind," He repeated, leaving no doubt in her mind that he meant what he said, "Good night, Miss Sullivan." As an afterthought he added, "I ride for the pony express and stay at the station in Rock Creek. You let me know if I can help you, Miss."

He tipped his black hat and stepped away from the door, leaving her there with tears in her eyes.

* * *

"Rider Comin!" Rachel's voice called into the bunkhouse, "Buck, your ride!"

Buck leapt up from his bunk and ran outside to vault on the horse Kid had waiting for him.

"Ride Safe, Buck!" Lou called as she extended the mochila to him and pulled Lightning up.

"Hey Kid!" She said with a wide smile as she slid off the horse and into his waiting arms.

"Have a good ride?"

"Yeah, it is pretty quiet out there. So, have I missed anything here?"

Kid raised his eyebrows and took her horse's reins. As they began walking to the barn to care for him together, Kid told her, "well, Jimmy's head over heels for some wildcat Southern girl working in the saloon! The girl's got all kind of problems and doesn't want anything to do with Jimmy, but he just ain't gonna give up!"

Lou sighed. Jimmy just didn't seem destined to have much luck with love. Her cheeks flamed as she remembered how he'd kissed her a few weeks ago when they'd taken Alias Mills in for hanging. She turned an even deeper red when she remembered how she'd kissed him back, and how her pulse had raced. Her feelings for Jimmy had never been simple, but his refusal to discuss the matter with her had left her confused, and perhaps a little stung.

Lou sighed and looked up at Kid. While her feeling about Jimmy were complicated and inexplicable, her feelings for Kid were and always had been, very, very simple. She loved him and had from nearly the beginning. She'd loved first his goodness and his gentleness and the absolute certainty she'd had that he would never do a thing to hurt her. As time went on, she grew to love his sense of duty and his protectiveness, and his courage and heart.

Lou smiled at him, feeling tender towards both of these men who were so much a part of her life. "Why do I have a feeling you and Jimmy already have, or will have, a disagreement over this girl?"

"What makes you think that, Lou?" Kid asked in his most innocent tone.

That gave him away, "Well, I was right! You already have, haven't you? Come on, Kid, you go through this every time Jimmy falls in love! He plunges into things! He doesn't have to calculate every move like you do! He acts with his heart, not his head, and yes, it's gotten him into trouble in the past, but it is his way Kid."

Kid wondered if there was a trace of disappointment in her voice. She and Jimmy were a lot alike, he realized. They loved the same way. Suddenly Lou stood on her toes and placed a gentle kiss at the corner of his mouth.

"But I wouldn't have you any other way!"

Jimmy watched the scene between Kid and Lou from the bunkhouse window with envy. However, for the first time, seeing Lou didn't bring a stab of longing into his heart. He knew it was pure folly that Callie occupied his every thought, but he couldn't help it. Having finished his chores for the day, Jimmy decided to visit the saloon.

He walked through town, his mind filled with the image of her staring at him, a slight blush on her cheeks and tears in her eyes as she tried to make him understand that she wasn't a whore. Everything in him wanted to protect her--and he recognized those feelings as ones he had had for all the women he'd loved--Lou, Emma, Sarah, and Alice. In the end, they hadn't wanted or needed his protection--or the ghosts that dogged him had made him more of a danger to them than any other enemy.

"Where you heading to, son?" Teaspoon's voice called him from inside the Marshal's office.

Jimmy stepped inside, gesturing vaguely down the street. "Uh, I just thought I'd go get those supplies you been wanting from Tompkin's store, Teaspoon."

"And after that?" Teaspoon wondered knowingly.

"Well, I thought I _might_ stop by the saloon."

"Jimmy, I want you to listen to me. You don't need to cause trouble for that girl! I know you want to help her, but you'll probably just make it worse on her if you keep hounding her. If she needs our help, she'll have to ask."

"She ain't gonna ask, Teaspoon. She's too proud, or too scared, or both!"

Teaspoon shrugged. "Well then, she's gonna have to get over that!"

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "I know, I know, you can't help people that won't help themselves," he said, repeating one of Teaspoon's favorite pieces of advice.

Teaspoon shrugged, "It's God's truth, son."

Jimmy sighed, "I know it is. But it sure seems like she needs help, don't it?"

Teaspoon nodded, and watched as the young man started out of the office.

"Where you going?" He repeated.

"Told you. To buy those supplies and then to the saloon!"

Teaspoon shook his head, wondering if Jimmy had listened to a word he'd said. Just then Jesse came flying through the jail at full tilt, and ran smack into Teaspoon. They both almost fell to the floor.

"Jesse! What have I told you about galloping around in here?" Teaspoon growled. When he glanced back at the door, Jimmy had disappeared.

"Why do I bother?" Teaspoon sighed, and glared at Jesse, who had the good sense to look sheepish before making himself scarce.

* * *

Callie walked slowly and sorely over to the table in the corner. Why the man had to sit so far removed from everyone else, with his back to the wall, was beyond her.

Jarvis had given her the beating of her life when he'd returned from jail that morning. She'd still been asleep when he burst into her room and started hitting her. He'd left her face alone, she realized bitterly, because he was afraid he'd cause some sort of disfigurement that would take away from her money-making looks. Her ribs and back and legs were already turning a kaleidoscope of greens and purples.

"May I get you something?" She asked the man, who had his head tilted down lazily.

He looked up and Callie's eyes widened. It was Jimmy, the man who had seen her display of weakness the night before. He'd hidden himself from her because he'd correctly assumed she wouldn't come over to him if she'd known who it was.

"What do you want?" She snapped impatiently, "I'm growing weary of these games!"

"I want to know what you're doing here," Jimmy said simply.

"I meant to drink," She hissed.

When he didn't answer her, Callie started to walk away, rolling her eyes. Jimmy didn't miss the stiff way she carried herself and guessed Jarvis had a lot to do with that.

"Sarsaparilla," he suddenly called out.

She turned around and glared at him, then walked back over to him and leaned close to him, her face only inches from his. Her violet eyes were cold and her voice contemptuous, "Get it yourself, _Wild Bill_!"

His jaw tightened in irritation at her as she sauntered away. Why the woman had to be so cold to everyone he couldn't imagine, but he was growing tired of it. He didn't know how or when she'd figured out who he was, but the hated name Marcus had given him was more of an insult than usual coming from her.

"There's just something to be said for Southern charm!" He cried out after her, and got up to go to the bar to get the drink himself.

It turned out to be lucky he did.

He watched as Jarvis pulled Callie over to the other end of the bar, where a tall, lean businessman waited. He heard her hushed, but violent protests and Jarvis' sharp reprimand.

Jimmy was able to hear every word of the conversation that followed.

"Callie, this is Jacob Harris. Why don't you be a good girl and keep him company?" Jarvis asked her, though it was no doubt an order and a threat, not a request.

She met his eyes defiantly, "Oh, I would, but I have tables to see to!" She started to breeze away.

Jarvis grabbed her arm with brute force again and slung her back against the bar, "My dear, someone else will see to your tables!"

Callie grimaced in pain as he stormed away.

Jacob Harris, a well-known banker, turned and studied the girl as if she were a horse at auction. Callie's cheeks flamed at his openly lustful appraisal. "Well, my dear, let's get better aquatinted. What would you like to talk about?"

Callie's stomach turned. She glanced down at the man's hand and her eyes narrowed as she saw his wedding band. "Why don't we talk about your wife?" She said sweetly, but loudly enough for the whole bar to hear, "How would she feel about you being here?"

"Who do you think you are!" Harris gasped, and reached to lace his hands around her abused arms, "You need to learn your place!"

"And you need to learn yours! Your place is in bed with your wife, not me!"

With that, Callie grabbed the half-full shot of whiskey sitting in front of him and threw it in his face. He cried in pain and clawed at his eyes as the stinging alcohol burned them. She turned to storm away, head high. She visibly shrank as she saw Jarvis heading straight towards her with murder in his eyes.

He grabbed her by the hair and snapped her neck back, forcing her to look him in the eye, "You're about to learn your place, Callie! You're about to learn it with certainty." Keeping a firm hold of her hair, and avoiding her flailing arms, Jarvis began half-dragging her toward the stairs.

Suddenly, Jimmy stood directly in front of him, blocking his path.

Callie felt a wave of relief wash over her, though she didn't like to admit it.

"Get out of my way, Hickok!" Jarvis growled, "There's nothing you can do to help her now!"

"I have a business proposition for you!" Jimmy insisted, and watched as Jarvis arched his eyebrows in interest. Callie looked at him worriedly.

"You don't make enough money to have a proposition worth my while!"

"There are other ways to make money off the pony express trail!" Jimmy reminded him, "And I've got forty-five dollars right here to prove it!"

Jarvis' eyes nearly popped out of his head. Forty-five dollars to take a girl upstairs? It was an unheard of amount! And too good to pass up! Still, Jarvis played it cool, "And why should I agree to this?"

Callie's forehead wrinkled in confusion. She didn't understand what was happening, yet had a feeling it was very important that she did understand. She tried very, very hard to forget the fact that Jarvis had her by her hair and had her bent back like a bow, and focus on what was transpiring between these two men.

"Because she'll probably kill you! I'm willing to take that risk," Jimmy smiled widely and extended the money to Jarvis.

Jarvis thrust Callie forward, and she stumbled into Jimmy's chest. He instantly wound his hands around her wrists, and while his hold was not as brutal as Jarvis', it was just as confining. She could not pull her arms free.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking first at Jarvis, then up at Jimmy.

Jarvis smiled, "Say hello to your first customer, Callie, and treat him nicely!"

Callie looked up at Jimmy, and his eyes were unreadable, his demeanor cold. She'd known he was interested in her, but hadn't thought him this kind of man. Once again, she'd been foolish to let herself believe someone was interested in helping her!

"Let's go, Callie!" Jimmy told her harshly, while Jarvis smiled and stepped back, tipping his hat to her. "Enjoy yourself, Callie," he murmured as Jimmy led her away.

And suddenly she understood what was happening. Her young hero had just bought her, and she had no say in the matter at all. Callie's screams were ear splitting as Jimmy began dragging her toward the stairs, with her fighting him every inch of the way.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Gratitude

Jimmy grimaced as Callie carried out a well-aimed blow to his shin with her booted foot. She was fighting him like a wildcat, and it was all he could do to avoid being killed…or killing her, he thought as she caught him again with her foot.

"Jarvis! You can tell who ever you want about me! But I'm not doing this!" Callie yelled over her shoulder.

Jarvis grinned and shook his head, "Too late. Tomorrow we'll discuss it. But right now, my dear, you've been paid for!"

Jimmy actually couldn't believe that no one made a move to shoot him as he dragged Callie towards the stairs. But all the patrons sat slack-jawed and wide-eyed, spectators to the unfolding events, not participants, thank goodness. She sat back against his hands and he pulled her along, almost like a mule. She screeched and screamed the whole way, until Jimmy thought his eardrums might burst.

"Hey, give that a rest, would you?" Jimmy finally asked of her after they were halfway up the stairs and out of sight.

She turned on him with eyes that blazed fire and ice, "If you touch me…" she warned.

"I just saved you!" Jimmy growled impatiently.

She laughed bitterly, "If you think I'd rather bed down with you than Malone, you're wrong."

"Well, there's no accounting for taste," Jimmy snorted in half disgust, half amusement, and kept a firm hand on her arm. Her strength was gone for the moment, which was fortunate for him, because so was his. However, she was refreshed and ready for another go-round as he stood at her door and opened it. It took all of his strength, as well as a split lip from her fist, to get her into the room and close the door behind them. She turned on him instantly.

She fought him as she'd never fought anyone. Her nails raked across his face and she punched him hard in his gut. Finally Jimmy grew weary of it and placed hands on each of her shoulders, thrusting her away from him and thundering "Enough!"

She stumbled backwards and landed on the bed. Instantly she was on her feet, circling him and distancing herself from the bed. Her eyes had the look of a trapped animal.

"If you lay a finger on me…" She began.

To her surprise he broke into laughter and shook his head. "Don't flatter yourself, Callie!"

Jimmy wasn't sure what he saw more of in her face, relief or dented vanity. "What?" She asked in confusion.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Callie," Jimmy said, sighing, "I thought you would have figured that out by now!"

Disbelief registered on her face and then distrust, "why?" She asked suspiciously.

He sighed and shook his head, "Callie, believe it or not, not all men want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you."

The look she gave him suggested her experience told her otherwise.

Callie paced the room, no longer afraid he was going to try to force her into anything, but still ill at ease with his nearness. _What do you want from me then?_ she longed to ask him.

"How old are you Callie?" Jimmy asked, putting his hands on his hips.

She eyed him, as if trying to discern if she wanted to disclose that information to him. His stare was demanding and she caved in. "Seventeen."

"Good God! And you're out here alone?" He asked incredulously.

"You aren't much older than me!" Callie shot at him, "And you're alone!"

"It's different!" Jimmy insisted. It was true, he actually wasn't much older, but he felt years older. His steady gaze sharpened and she squirmed under his scrutiny. "What are you doing here, Callie?" He finally said softly.

She looked away from him, though he did his best to hold her stare. "All right, don't tell me! But you listen to me Callie, and listen good!" He saw her bristle at the authority in his voice, and it just spurred him on, "You are going to pack your bags and get out. Tonight! You will come with me to the pony express station. You'll be safe there until we can get you home!"

She laughed bitterly and glared back at him, "This _is_ my home!"

Jimmy didn't smile back. He was completely serious when he told her, "Then I suggest you find a new one!"

"What concern is this of yours?" She spat hatefully, "I am not your problem! Why do you feel the need to save everyone?"

She shrank from him as he stormed toward her, stopping only inches away. His voice was low and dangerously quiet when he spoke to her. Callie would have preferred he scream at her than tower over her and speak in the tone he used now.

"What concern is it of mine?" he repeated, then took a step closer to her, "Let's try this-I just spent forty-five dollars, not a penny of which was mine, to save your honor! And you're asking me what concern is it of mine that you just sit here and let the same thing I just stopped happen to you tomorrow?"

Against her better judgement, Callie didn't back down. She sensed there was something dangerous about Jimmy Hickok, and the talk around town gave her every reason to believe she was right. However, she now stood toe to toe with him, glaring into his eyes. "I didn't ask you to save me! I haven't asked anything of you! And you expect me to fall to my knees and kiss your boots in gratitude?"

Jimmy stepped forward and took her chin gently into his hand. He tilted her head back and stared into her eyes. She drew a startled breath when she looked into his eyes. She was certain he intended to kiss her.

"I don't expect you to kiss my boots! But you'll do well to remember that you are at my mercy here! It wouldn't hurt you to act just a little thankful, even if you don't mean it!"

"Don't you dare threaten me!" Callie growled and stormed to the other side of the room, where she looked out the window.

Jimmy shook his head and sighed. The girl had bravado, he had to give her credit for that. She was stubborn as a mule and too proud for her own good, but underneath all that, she was scared and she was alone. He tried to remember that when the urge to toss her from the window became too strong. And while she'd never admit it to him, he knew she was grateful for what he'd done. "Don't you realize what Jarvis would have done to you, Callie?" He finally said softly.

Something in the tone of his voice got to her, and she glanced at him in surprise, her eyes filled with tears.

"Get out of here Callie. Save yourself!" Jimmy pleaded with her, and walked to stand before her, "he'll kill you!" Tears streamed down her face now, and it twisted his heart. Slowly he reached out to cradle her cheeks and wipe at her tears with his thumbs. She stood there for only a second before she backed away and angrily wiped the unwelcome tears away herself.

"I signed a contract. A legal contract saying that I work here for at least one year. And Malone isn't going to let me break it."

"Run away," Jimmy said simply.

"It isn't that easy," She said, "He'll find me. He said so and I believe him."

"Then come to the station with me. I'll protect you."

The sincerity in his voice seemed to startle and amaze her. Her wide eyes slid to his. He blushed and added, "We all will." He paused to let his words sink in. "Why did you sign the contract, Callie?" Jimmy asked next, feeling he was finally getting somewhere with the girl.

She didn't answer and turned away, her cheeks flaming.

"Why, Callie?" he pushed.

"None of your business! I can take care of myself! I don't know how many times I have to tell you that!" Callie was suddenly every bit as angry and defiant as when he'd first seen her. Her moment of weakness had passed and she would now make up for it with more bitterness than ever. Jimmy knew she was using the nastiness to hide something from him.

Jimmy sighed, "You're the damn fool, not me." He ignored her as she bristled, and held up a hand to stop her retort, "Never mind, Callie. You win. I'm leaving. But you need to take my advice and get out of here. Next time I won't be here to save you. I can't afford it!" He reached for his hat, which was hanging at his back and placed it on his head. He paused with one hand on the door, not looking back at her, "The Pony Express station is on the west end of town. You can't miss it. If you get into trouble or come to your senses, you can always come there. No one there will hurt you, I swear it! Whether I'll be there if you do come depends on how well Teaspoon takes the news of what happened to the supply money."

Callie longed to go with him. The consequences for both of them were too great though. He started to slip out the door. Callie looked at the neckline of her low cut dress and mumbled, "As soon as I can raise forty-five dollars, I'll pay you back."

Jimmy smiled slightly and glanced at her, "Use it to get out of here any way you can. As for me, a simple thank you would be payment enough."

She blushed in shame. She hadn't even thanked him. She was horrified by the change in what used to be her manners. Jimmy knew perfectly well that it would have been much easier on Callie to raise the forty-five dollars than to raise her eyes to his and give him words of gratitude.

"Thank you, Mr. Hickok," She said at last softly, and glanced up "And I do mean that."

His smile was warm, and he didn't gloat like she might have expected of him. "You're welcome. My friends call me Jimmy."

With that, he closed the door. She'd just let what might be the only person left in the world who gave a damn what happened to her walk away. And she was once again, alone. The tears that Callie had held back suddenly came forth as if the floodgates had been opened. She slid down in the floor with her back to the bed, and pressed her hands to her eyes, sobbing.

Jimmy bowed his head when he heard her. It broke his heart. But, he thought, Teaspoon was right. He could only do so much for her before she had to take a step towards him. He let his head crash back against the wall and stared at the ceiling, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He was going to have a hell of a time explaining why in God's name he had spent forty five dollars in the saloon, instead of on food and supplies.

* * *

Jimmy walked back through town slowly. Callie occupied his every thought. _Why was she working for Malone, how had he gotten her to sign the contract, and why was she so afraid of breaking it?_ He shook his head. She needed his help, he was sure, but she was too afraid and too proud to ask him for it. He knew he should just walk away, and forget about her. But that wasn't going to be possible. After he'd looked into her eyes he'd been certain that he couldn't just walk away.

Jimmy was still thinking in circles when he made it back to the station. Wanting to put off the confrontation that would surely follow when he broke the news about the money to Teaspoon, he opted to go into the stable and feed his horse first.

He was more than a little shocked as, when he entered the stable, a shower of cold water hit him squarely in the face.

He cried out in surprise and wiped the dripping hair from his eyes, ready to draw his gun. Lou stood before him, holding a now-empty bucket and looking scared for her life. Jimmy looked down at his soaked clothes, then back up at Lou, then down at himself again. He finally raised his eyes to hers nonchalantly for an explanation.

She pressed her hand over her mouth in the hopes of stifling a bark of laughter and was largely unsuccessful. "I thought you were Jesse! We've been having a water fight, you see…and I thought…you were him…" the words disappeared into a long, low giggle.

Jimmy supposed she was winning the fight, judging by the lack of water on her. That should be remedied, he thought.

"I'm not Jesse," He pointed out quietly.

When she saw the look on his face she yelped in fear and took off in the opposite direction.

"You'd better run!" Jimmy yelled, grinning and giving chase. She was fast, though, and she burst out of the other end of the barn, laughing wildly and shrieking in delight. Just as he was about to run out the door after her, a figure stepped forward. It was too late to stop, and he ran right into the next onslaught of water.

He stopped abruptly and turned to Kid who was already laughing too hard to stand up straight. Jimmy put one hand on his hip and the other rubbed the water from his eyes.

"Don't you think you could wait till after winter to have a water fight?" He asked through teeth that were beginning to chatter. Kid was still laughing too hard to answer him. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes as he howled and gasped for air. Jimmy contemplated shooting him.

Then Jimmy saw Lou and Jesse both creeping up behind him with reloaded buckets. He decided then that a bullet would be too quick of a death for Kid.

"If you could have seen the look on your face! You ran right into the water! I wish you could have seen it!" Kid finally gasped out. About that time Lou and Jesse both ambushed him from each side with both buckets, and soon he was sputtering and coughing.

"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea of what I must have looked like now!" Jimmy assured him, and it was his turn to laugh.

All of them stood there for a moment, and Jimmy forgot about Callie for the first time since he'd met her. He looked at Lou, who was the only dry one in the bunch. Kid met his eyes and raised his eyebrows, inclining his head ever so slightly in Lou's direction. They both leapt for her at the same time.

She screeched and fought them, but to no avail as Kid secured his arms around her upper body and Jimmy got hold of her legs.

Soon, they held her over the water trough.

"No!" She yelled, "Please, don't!" She laughed nervously, as if she couldn't believe they might actually drop her in the cold water, "Come on, boys. This isn't sporting. You're bigger than me!"

"That don't mean you don't ride as hard or shoot a gun as straight," Jimmy intoned, channeling Teaspoon.

"You already proved you're as good as any of us--Hickok, Cody, any of us!" Kid agreed.

"If you do this..." she threatened, focusing her attention on Kid.

"Beg, and we might not do it," Kid told her.

"Never!" She growled in defiance, and they lowered her closer to the water.

"All right, all right!" She implored hastily, "Please, please don't do this to me! Oh please!"

Jimmy and Kid met eyes, and sensing the golden opportunity at hand, grinned wickedly. She was theirs now.

"Who is the best looking rider in the whole pony express?" Jimmy asked wickedly.

"Oh you are!" Lou said quickly, then screeched again as Kid lowered her upper body only inches above the water, "I mean, you both are! You both are equally handsome, and no one else in the world is quite so handsome as both of you."

"I don't think she means it," Kid said doubtfully, looking at Jimmy.

"Oh, I do! I do mean it! You're both very, very handsome. All the girls in town say so!"

"Nah, you're right, she ain't being sincere," Jimmy agreed.

With that, they dropped her into the trough. She came up shivering and looking fit to be tied. She splashed them both with water. Jimmy and Kid, both already soaked, laughed at her efforts. She glared at them, and Jimmy was glad she didn't have her gun. She wasn't pleased with the way events had turned out at all.

Suddenly she was staring at him, "What happened to you?"

Kid and Jesse looked over at him too, and for the first time they noticed the scratches on his face, the bruise appearing by his left eye, and the blood on his lip.

Jimmy sighed and stepped forward to help Kid lift Lou out of the water.

"Nothing compared to what's going to happen to me after I tell Teaspoon what happened! Come on, I only want to tell this story once."

* * *

"_What do you mean you don't have the money?_" Teaspoon all but whispered at Jimmy.

Jimmy glanced uneasily around the bunkhouse from where he sat alone at the table. He felt as if he were on trial. The other riders all sat at their bunks, watching closely. Kid and Lou sat together, huddled in a blanket by the fire. Jimmy shivered, not so much from the coldness of the water still soaking him, but from the tone in Teaspoon's voice. He felt about five years old.

"I spent it at the saloon," He said, cringing as he heard his own explanation.

"Dare I ask on _what_?" Teaspoon growled.

"Callie," He said simply, bowing his head and preparing himself for the worst.

He wasn't disappointed, "_You did what!_" Teaspoon thundered, nearly splitting Jimmy's ears.

"Jimmy!" Cody said in surprise.

"Shut up Billy!" Noah warned the blond rider. There was no need in making this harder on Hickok than it had to be. The way he figured it, Jimmy would be riding double duty for the rest of his life as it was.

"It isn't what you think," Jimmy said quickly, and the words tumbled out quickly. The others had never seen Jimmy so unsure of himself, "Malone was going to take her upstairs and have his way with her! Offering him all that money was the only way I could stop him!"

"Did it ever occur to you that the money wasn't yours to offer?" Teaspoon asked incredulously. It wasn't like Jimmy to be so careless.

"Not at the time! All I could think about was stopping Malone!" Jimmy said, and sighed, "I'll pay you back Teaspoon. You can take it out of my pay."

"Yeah, I know I can!" Teaspoon growled, "But it ain't as simple as that! Now we are out forty-five dollars that should have been used on food and supplies for us."

"Teaspoon, we ain't gonna starve," Lou pointed out, touched by Jimmy's heroics.

"I don't need any help from you!" Teaspoon snapped.

Lou set her mouth in a straight line and glared back at Teaspoon through wounded eyes. Jimmy glanced at her appreciatively and she winked.

"Teaspoon, she's just a girl! She's seventeen!" Jimmy said, "She's in over her head, and I just couldn't sit there and let that happen to her! You taught us better than that!"

"And you plan on robbing banks for a living so you can keep putting yourself between her and Jarvis Malone?" Teaspoon asked, "Don't you realize what you've done? If Jarvis wasn't thinking about whoring her before, he'll sure as hell do it now, because he knows how much he can get for her!"

Jimmy dropped his eyes, and shook his head, "I didn't think of that."

"Then what did you think?" Teaspoon demanded.

"That she'd come with me back here, and that we'd help her get home!"

Teaspoon sighed, "Son, I don't know if you realize this, but the girl has signed a contract with Malone, I'm certain! It is a binding agreement! She can't just leave!"

"I know that now!" Jimmy protested sheepishly, feeling like an utter fool, "But Jarvis forced her to sign it somehow! I know it!"

"Doesn't matter, Jimmy," Teaspoon said, and his voice softened ever so slightly, "But what does matter is that he's got her signature on a piece of paper."

Jimmy nodded miserably, wishing he didn't understand.

Noah added quietly, "So she's as good as sold."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:Damn Good Womenand Friends

Lou wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and picked up a cup of warm tea. She let herself out onto the bunkhouse porch quietly. Jimmy was sitting on the stairs, looking up at the rising moon. It was a brisk winter night, and the ground was bathed in silver. It was his favorite kind of night, she knew, because she knew him so well. That being as it was, she also knew he was troubled.

"Thought you might like something hot," Lou said, announcing her presence.

He turned and smiled at her, seeing the cup in her hands, "That was nice of you, Lou."

She came to settle beside him, almost lost in the folds of the blanket, and passed the warm cup on to him. She was quiet, waiting for him to talk. She knew he had a lot on his mind, and she also knew he just couldn't talk to the other boys about Callie.

"Do you think I done more harm than good Lou?"

Lou sighed, "I don't know, Jimmy. I think Malone has already made up his mind what to do with her. At least you helped prolong it."

"But now he thinks he can make so much more money on her."

"If she's as beautiful as you boys say, I think he probably already expected to make a fortune."

Jimmy sighed and glanced at Lou, then back at the sky, "She is beautiful. But it's more than that! There are lots of beautiful women out there, and men don't try to hurt them like they do her! What is it about her that makes them all want to hurt her?"

Lou's voice was gentle, "The same thing that makes men like you respect her. It's her spirit. She won't back down. Some men see it as a challenge to break her."

Jimmy glanced at Lou's profile and something occurred to him, "I know someone else like that," He smiled, and she looked at him in surprise.

"No, I'm not beautiful like Callie. Just stubborn," Lou smiled back.

"Yeah you're stubborn by everyone's account, even that mule over there," Jimmy agreed, "But you're wrong Lou. You are beautiful too, though Lord knows you tried hard to keep it from us for a long time--not that I blame you after what you'd been through." He blushed a bright shade of red.

She looked awkward for a moment at the reference to Wicks, then sighed. "That's sweet Jimmy."

"I got a question Lou," he began hesitantly.

"Alright," Lou said agreeably.

"It's kind of well--it's kind of a private question..." Jimmy warned her.

"You know you can ask me anything, Jimmy," Lou reassured him.

"Aw, all right. When you were working for Wicks, did he make his women sign contracts? I mean, did you sign one?"

"Yes he did, and yes I did, though I had no idea what it was I was signing at the time. He'd hunt any girl that ran out on him down like a dog, Jimmy. And usually they killed themselves or he killed them when he found them."

"How'd you get away?" Jimmy wondered.

Lou smiled and deepened her voice, and squinted the way she'd always done in those first months when no onebut Kid had the sense to see past her disguise."I became Lou!" she paused and sighed, "If you're thinking for Callie a way out, don't. She's got to make that decision on her own. It could be a lifetime of running and hiding, and that ain't something that many people can stomach."

Jimmy stole a sideways glance at Lou. She'd run for years, and eventually Wicks had found her, just when she thought she was safe. She knew what she was talking about.

"For some reason, I think she's already hiding," Jimmy said quietly. "I think she may have been running awhile."

"Well, that may be the best place for her to hide, just like here was the best place for me," Lou said.

"Lou, for what it's worth, I'm glad that you got away, and that you became 'Lou'. Even though it ain't been easy on you, I'm glad. You deserved better than that life."

"All women deserve a better life than that," she said, her throat suddenly tight as she thought of all the ones who hadn't, and would never, get away.

"Why don't we go inside where its warm, Jimmy? Things will look better in the morning."

"I might go for a walk Lou, but you go inside. If we all don't catch our death from that water today, it ain't for lack of trying."

Lou laughed, "I won, you know."

Jimmy raised his eyebrow at her, "I can call Kid, and we can go visit the trough again if you need your memory refreshed as to who won!"

"No! That's fine!" She laughed and stood up to go inside.

She was opening the door when Jimmy called back at her, "Hey Lou--thanks!"

She grinned and winked, "Go see her! You'll feel better for it."

"Y'all would get along good, Lou," Jimmy smiled.

"Well, then, you'll have to introduce us. My guess is that she could use a woman friend."

"You're a damn good one," Jimmy said without jest in his eyes and she didn't know if he meant a good friend or woman. Either way, his words warmed her and she gave him an appreciative smile. She went inside then, leaving him smiling after her.

Jimmy walked the now familiar path to the saloon slowly. He wasn't sure why he was taking Lou's advice, but it was as if he didn't have a choice. He had to see her. He doubted she felt the same way.

He paused at the foot of the stairs to the saloon and took a deep breath. His coming to see her would inevitably lead to a confrontation between them. His blood ran faster at the thought. He felt alive when he stood face to face with her blue eyes blazing, more so than ever before. He'd just about gathered his courage to walk inside when a quiet voice rang out.

"Hey, Lancelot."

Jimmy leapt skywards in surprise. His eyes darted to the porch. Callie looked down at him and laughed slightly.

"Callie!" He breathed in surprise.

"None other," She agreed with a smile.

"You all right?" He asked softly.

"Sure," She said, nodding, "I think the more appropriate question is are _you_ all right?" She motioned toward his scratched face.

He turned a million shades of red at the memory. Her laughter was musical.

"Who is Lancelot?" he asked, brow wrinkled.

"Never mind that," she shook her head.

"How come you're out here?" Jimmy wondered.

"I got out of my room and crawled down," She smiled, "Not a very lady like spectacle, I can assure you! But it was such a beautiful night! The moon is so bright!"

Jimmy smiled.

Callie smiled back, "Well are you just going to stand down there all night?"

Jimmy blushed, "No miss. But it does seem an awful shame to go up there on that porch where we can't see the moon. Would you like to take a walk? I mean, would you get in trouble?"

Callie considered it as if it were the most difficult question of her life. Her eyes rested on Jimmy as she weighed the options. Jarvis was playing a big game tonight and wouldn't miss her for hours. He'd left her alone all day, assuming she'd had enough after Jimmy. But did she want to take this first step of friendship with this man? What good could come of it? Her heart had long been cold. However, Callie realized, she was lonely. It had been so very long since she'd laughed, and so long since she'd had a real friend. She was in need of both.

"I would like very much to take a walk," She smiled. He extended his hand out for her, and helped her down the stairs. His movements weren't quite as practiced as some of her suitors in days past, but his sincerity made up for the awkwardness.

Jimmy felt as if he owned the moon and the stars they admired together as they strolled through the deserted streets of town. Callie looked as beautiful as ever in the moonlight. Her eyes glittered as she laughed at his stories of the boys and himself, and all the trouble they got into.

"Can we visit the stables?" Callie wondered suddenly, her hand tightening on his arm.

"Of course," Jimmy said as he looked into her eyes and thought, _look at me like that and we can go anywhere, even Kansas!_

Once they entered the stables, Callie left his arm and eagerly hurried forward, the silk of her skirts rustling against the hay. Jimmy watched as one of the finest horses he had ever seen pricked his delicate ears and nickered when he saw the girl coming. He walked over slowly to lean against the door and watch Callie stroke the beautiful animal joyously, and was amazed to see tears of happiness touching the girl's eyes. "You have a fine eye for horses. This one is an Arabian, and a fine one at that! One of the nicest horses I've ever seen."

Callie bowed her head to hide the amused smile that crept onto her lips. Of course he would think her ignorant to the ways of horses, but it was absurd to have him tell her what breed of horse The Ghost was, considering she'd raised and trained him.

"It is almost like he knows you!" Jimmy commented.

Callie finally glanced over at Jimmy, a dimple at the corner of her mouth the only indication of her amusement, "Well, I suppose he does know me, considering I was the first person to ever lay hands on him!"

Jimmy looked at her blankly, slowly realizing what she was saying, "This is your horse, Callie?"

She nodded, "His name is Ghost. He comes from a long line of champions! I raised and trained him."

"But how? I mean, how does a saloon girl afford a horse like this?" Jimmy wondered.

Her eyes were suddenly startled and she avoided his stare. She'd not even considered the questions that would arise from her telling him she owned the horse. He sensed her closing off, and couldn't stand to see it happen again.

"Uh-uh, Callie! You aren't going to get off that easy! How did you get this horse?" Jimmy wondered.

"I, uh..." Callie searched for a lie.

"The truth," Jimmy warned her, "Where are you from Callie? What are you doing here?"

Callie shook her head stubbornly, "I don't want to talk about this!"

"I don't care!" Jimmy said quietly, "I do."

"Why can't you just leave me alone? I just wanted to talk to someone like I was a real human being again! Why do you always have to bring up what I am!"

"I don't bring up what you are, Callie!" Jimmy said, his voice climbing as her's did, "I don't know what or who you are! I am trying to find out why you pretend to be _this!_" He waved his gloved hand at her low cut dress, "All this town may choose to see you as nothing but a saloon girl, but I know different! I can see it in every move you make! You are better than this, but you're afraid of something, and if you'd just quit being so damned stubborn and tell me, you'd see that I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not going to hold it against you, and I might even be able to help you!"

She looked at him with wide eyes, and Jimmy imagined that she wasn't used to being scolded.

"For one night I was trying to forget all this! And I almost did, but you just couldn't leave well enough alone! You just had to get something from me! You had to have your answers! I just wanted a friend, Jimmy!" Her face fell and she turned and started running.

"Callie, wait! I'm sorry!" Jimmy cried out after her. Ghost pinned his ears back, almost as if he knew Jimmy had hurt his mistress. Sighing, Jimmy ran after her.

She was fast, and had climbed the stairs to the saloon when he reached the bottom of them. "Please wait a minute!" He gasped out, nearly doubled over from the effort of catching her.

She stopped, but didn't turn around, and her back remained as stiff as a board. Jimmy climbed up the stairs and walked in front of her. Callie had tears streaming down her face, and she bowed her head in shame. Jimmy took his finger and placed it under her chin, slowly raising her head.

Her eyes looked into his, and he studied the loneliness and heartache that seemed so close to the surface tonight, her fierceness forgotten. "No more questions," He said softly.

"Promise?" Callie said, and when he nodded she smiled, and wiped at her eyes, "I'm sorry, Jimmy. You must think me a fool!"

"Not likely," Jimmy smiled, "At least not in the past hour!"

She laughed and glanced nervously at the swinging doors of the saloon and the loud music and laughter pouring out of it. "Let's go over there." He followed her to a secluded corner of the porch.

Jimmy would have followed her to the ends of the earth. Soon she was giggling at more of his tales of the Pony Express. He was laughing too. She was easy to talk to, he discovered. Jimmy couldn't say what had caused such a change in her, but he guessed it was because he'd finally won a little of her trust when he hadn't hurt her earlier that day.

"She had you all fooled? How did Teaspoon finally found out?" Callie asked, her eyes wide. Jimmy grinned and laughed at the memory. He knew that telling her about Lou would be a good idea. And he had no doubt she'd keep the secret.

"He jumped into the lake with her! We were close by, and we heard her screaming like someone was killing her, and we all went flying down to rescue her. That's about the time Teaspoon ducked under the water and got the surprise of his life!" Jimmy laughed louder, "You should have seen the look on that man's face when he came out of that water! It took him hours to understand what was going on!"

Callie laughed too, "I guess so!" As an afterthought, she added shyly, "Lou must be amazing!"

Jimmy smiled, "Yeah, she is. She can ride circles around all of us! Y'all would get along just fine."

"Maybe one day you can introduce us," Callie smiled.

"That's what she told me about you too!" Jimmy said.

Callie suddenly stood up and stretched. Jimmy did the same, realizing how much time had gone by.

"I have to get back inside! Jarvis will have the army out after me if he thinks I've gone."

Jimmy nodded, curbing the urge to plead with her to leave the saloon and come with him. He didn't dare do anything to disturb the truce between them. "Can I come and see you here tomorrow?" He asked fearfully.

Callie wanted to tell him it wasn't a good idea, but when she looked into his eyes she knew she wanted to see him again. "Yes."

"I'll see you then!" Jimmy smiled, and waited as she climbed the outside stairs to the second story and paused outside her window. She waved down at him, and he leapt over the railing and walked away, a smile lighting his face.

Callie watched him go, then sighed and climbed back into her window with a gentle smile still in place.

"Have a nice time, my dear?" A voice growled.

Callie gasped and jumped, hitting her head hard on the windowsill.

"Where have you been, Callie?" Jarvis asked, from where he sat in a chair that was blocking her door.

"I just stepped outside for a bit of fresh air," She lied smoothly.

He crossed the room in two steps and hit her across the face, knocking her to the floor and towering above her, "Don't you ever lie to me! I saw you with that Hickok boy! Taken a shine to him, have you? You're thinkin' he may be your way out, think if you give yourself away for free he'll take you away from here? I think you're forgetting who you are! The marshal is a good friend of his! What would he think of you if I showed him who you really are? A murderess, a thief, a liar, a whore! But don't worry, Callie, when I'm done with you tonight, he won't want what's left of you anyway!"

There was nowhere for Callie to go as he reached for her with hands that trembled in rage.

* * *

"Lou, all I am saying is that this girl may be trouble! I just don't think you ought to encourage Jimmy to keep trying with her!" 

Lou rolled her eyes, and glared at Kid. They stood on the bunkhouse porch, arguing over what Kid had heard Lou tell Jimmy earlier. The disagreement had started in the bunkhouse, but at the order of Noah, Cody, and Jesse, they had moved to the porch.

"Ah, don't look at me like that Lou! I just don't want Jimmy to get hurt again, that's all!" Kid protested.

But Lou wasn't about to let go of his earlier tirade that easily, "Oh, and you think I want to see Jimmy hurt? You're so blind sometimes Kid!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked defensively.

"Did it ever occur to you that this girl probably needs to be treated like she counts for something? She needs someone to care about her! And Jimmy does! Maybe it won't work out, but maybe it will! Do you ever look at the bright side of things?"

"Lou!" Kid cried out as Lou stormed down the bunkhouse stairs to pace angrily back and forth, "I'm telling you, something about this girl doesn't add up! She's hiding something!"

"Of course she is!" Lou said in exasperation, and then in sheer frustration picked up a pebble and threw it at him, "you're such a hypocrite! You knew I was hiding something but you and I fell in love!"

"This is different, you didn't work in a saloon!"

Lou finally turned her face up and shouted at the sky, her patience gone. Kid just wasn't going to let himself see that he and Jimmy were so alike in so many ways! Kid had always been more cautious, but they'd both taken the same chances with love, though not with the same speed.

"Sometimes I wish I did work in the saloon! I've done it once before, you know! I'd like to go sign up with Jarvis Malone right now just to shut you up and make you leave Jimmy alone!"

"So go do that now so we can get some sleep in here!" Cody yelled from inside the bunkhouse. Lou blushed when she realized they'd listened to every word.

"Yeah, you were so good at it the first time! It only just about killed you!" Kid snapped back sarcastically, but shifted nervously, under Lou's sharpening stare. "You ain't gonna really do that again are you?"

Lou glared at him, wanting to kill him, but knowing that the primary force behind this hard headed argument was his love for Jimmy. "If you don't leave Jimmy alone, I just might, Kid!" she sighed.

Jimmy turned the corner quietly, and stopped as he saw Lou and Kid fighting on the porch. He raised his eyebrows. When they fought, they fought big, and he had no desire to interrupt. He smiled wickedly. He did have a desire to eavesdrop though.

His smile disappeared at Kid's next words.

"Jimmy's gone head over heels, and she's not worth it Lou! She's bitter and hateful, and like it or not, she's a whore."

Jimmy charged him. Lou barely had time to jump out of the way before they were both facing off in the hard packed dirt.

"Take it back!" Jimmy demanded.

"I'm sorry Jimmy, but it's the truth! The sooner you recognize that, the better off you'll be."

"Stop it!" Lou cried helplessly as the others quickly came out to the porch.

"Noah, Cody! Stop them!" She cried out after the first few punches were thrown. Noah and Cody quickly ran down to pull them apart, kicking and screaming. Everyone stood in shock for a moment under the beautiful sky, breathing heavily.

Suddenly Jesse coughed from the porch and wondered, "What's burning?"

The others all looked around to find the air growing hazy with smoke. They jumped in alarm, and tried to find where it was coming from. "It's at the other end of town," Noah pointed out, and they turned and looked over the tops of the stores to see the sky glowing orange with fire.

"It's the saloon!" Jesse cried out, and the fire bells in the town began clanging.

Jimmy's face went white as he tore himself from Cody's grasp and ran into the barn. The others followed him, and in less than a minute they were all on their horses bareback, and clutching at buckets as they started down Main Street at a dead run. Teaspoon ran up to greet them, having come from the Marshal's office.

"It's a bad one boys! Don't think we can save the saloon, but we got to keep it from spreading to the other buildings! If they catch fire, Rock Creek could burn to nothing!"

Jimmy didn't listen to Teaspoon. Instead he stumbled over to where most of the saloon girls had gathered, searching frantically for Callie.

"Where's Callie?" He demanded of the women.

"You got to help her! Jarvis locked her up in her room! Last I saw, he was in there with her!" One of the girls told him.

Jimmy spun and sprinted for the door of the burning building.

"_Jimmy!_" Lou, Noah, and Cody cried out simultaneously.

Then, Lou watched in horror as she saw another figure close behind Jimmy.

"Kid! No! Please!" She screamed, and started to bolt after them.

"No Lou!" Noah cried out, and caught hold of her shoulders. She fought him for a moment, then stopped dead, staring at the increasingly towering flames.

"They'll be killed!" She murmured, her fingers digging into Noah's hands as they rested on her shoulders.

Noah squeezed her shoulders in reassurance and then released her. "Come on, we have to get some water on that fire and help them out! They're gonna be fine, Lou!"

She nodded but still was plagued by a gnawing doubt as she turned and looked up at the tall inferno that threatened to claim the lives of the two men more dear to her than anyone in the whole world.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5: Into the Fire

Jimmy burst through the swinging doors of the saloon, and he hit the heat like it was a brick wall, even before the smoke had time to send two streams of water running from his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing, Jimmy?" A voice suddenly screamed above the crackling wood. Jimmy spun around to see Kid, right behind him, clawing at the smoke.

"Get out of here Kid!"

"Not till you get out of here, Jimmy! I ain't leaving without you!"

"Kid, damn it, I got to go after Callie! You don't! Lou is outside, and that's where you belong! Now, go!"

Jimmy wasn't all that surprised when Kid instantly began following him further into the building.

"Damn it, Kid!" Jimmy screamed back, but knew he could spare no more time arguing with his bull headed friend, "You're a real son-of-a-bitch sometimes, did I ever tell you that?"

"Lou points that out from time to time."Kid kept following the darker shape bending in and out of the smoke, hoping it was still Jimmy up there.

They both looked at the scene with wide, fearful eyes. "Damn, look at that," Jimmy whispered, his voice lost in the roar of the fire. He faltered in mid stride as he noticed how the flames moved up the walls like liquid gold, consuming all they touched. The wood popped and split, and the fire itself screamed like a banshee from Hell. Jimmy couldn't remember ever being so frightened. He glanced back and could barely see Kid, only a step behind him, in the smoke. The outline of his friend wavered in the heat, like the mountains in the distance beneath a hot desert sun.

Jimmy pushed his way up the stairs, which swayed and creaked dangerously. He only prayed they'd still be standing after he found Callie. Why could she not get herself out of the saloon? What had happened in the short time since he'd left her smiling gently after him?

He forced his way down the hall, and tried to open her door. He screamed and beat on it when he found it locked. He and Kid wordlessly backed up and tried ramming the door a few times, but it wouldn't give.

Just then, Kid heard a faint cry coming from down the hall.

"Jimmy, some one else is trapped in here! You keep trying here, and I'm going to go see about them!"

"Careful Kid!" Jimmy cried out, but his friend had already disappeared in the blinding, choking smoke.

Jimmy felt weak and dizzy, and knew that they wouldn't be able to survive much longer in the smoke. The heat was unbearable, and he was soaked in sweat. Finally, Jimmy drew his gun and fired it into the lock, praying that the bullet wouldn't pass through the door and hit anyone on the other side.

The door was still blocked with a chair, but Jimmy put so much force on the door that the chair snapped underneath the pressure. It was hard to see much of anything in the smoke, and the fire was worse in this room than the others. It licked at all the walls and ran across the ceiling in waves of red, orange, yellow, white, and blue.

Jimmy staggered toward the bed, then tripped over something in the floor and crashed down, hitting his head on the night table as he fell. Something fell from the table onto his head, and he felt even dizzier. He fought the darkness swimming at the edges of his eyes, and knew that if he allowed himself to black out, he'd never wake again. His hands closed around the object that had clubbed him in the head. It was a framed picture of Callie, seated with an older couple he took to be her parents and four handsome young men. They sat on the porch of a massive colonial mansion. He shoved the picture into his pocket.

He slowly pushed himself to his knees, and finding the air to be clearer closer to the floor, he crawled. He might never have seen the body laying on the floor if he hadn't.

He recoiled in horror as he recognized Jarvis Malone.

"Jimmy come on! We don't have much time, and I've found Callie!"

Jimmy picked himself up and glanced again at the dead body of the saloon owner. He found Kid in the hallway. Callie was lying limply in his arms. Even in the desperate need to hurry, Jimmy couldn't help but notice that she'd been beaten up badly. She was now unconscious, but alive, and Jimmy snatched her from Kid and quickly followed him down the stairs. They were no sooner clear of the wooden staircase, when with a final heave and groan, it collapsed.

The roar was deafening, and Kid glanced at the doorway. They were almost there. Glasses exploded into millions of pieces as the fire raged through the bar, and the whiskey only served to breathe new life into the blaze. A loud splitting noise caught Kid's attention, and coughing, he looked up, fighting the dizziness that assaulted him as he did so. The ceiling was a canopy of flames. Suddenly, a large timber glowing with fire came crashing down, heading right for them.

"Jimmy get back!" Kid screamed, shoving him backwards just in time

They both fell down as the floor quaked with the impact.

"It's blocking the doorway!" Kid cried.

"We'll have to find another way out!" Jimmy yelled, as he gathered Callie even more tightly in his arms and jumped to his feet.

Kid looked at the wall of flames that was closing in on all sides and then looked at Jimmy as if to ask _and where would you suggest we try looking?_

* * *

Lou stopped in her tracks as she saw the flaming timber crash in front of the doorway through the shattered windows of the building. The bucket she had been lugging crashed to the ground, spilling icy water over her feet and legs, but she didn't notice.

"No!" She screamed, and bolted for the saloon.

Cody spotted her first and took off for her. His long legs closed the gap between them quickly, and he reached out and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her backwards. She screamed, but her voice was lost in the roaring fire.

"Lou, you can't do anything for them! Understand? They'll get out!"

"They can't!" She sobbed, pointing at the flaming doorway, "They are going to burn to death!"

Cody put his arm around her, and pulled her away from the building, feeling the searing heat on his back. The whole town now formed a line, quickly passing buckets to be thrown onto the fire. The building next to the saloon, the land office, had also gone up in flames. However, it was the last building on the street, and it caused less concern than if the building on the left had caught fire, becoming a threat to the rest of Main Street and the heart of Rock Creek.

Cody decided that he and Lou could be spared, and so he pulled her to a safe distance and wrapped his arms around her, feeling panic constrict his own chest. Tears were washing down her soot covered cheeks, making canyons in the soot and dirt caked there. She pushed her face into his buckskin jacket and tried to pretend that none of this was happening; that the last words she had said to Kid hadn't been angry words, that he wasn't trapped in the burning building with Jimmy, who she loved dearly also.

Teaspoon came to stand beside Cody silently, his face alarmingly pale. He watched the fire with Cody, reaching out to rest a hand on Lou's shoulder in whatever comfort he could offer. The old wooden building didn't stand a chance against the fire, which had taken only minutes to spread to fatal proportions. Now, it rolled and pitched dangerously, and the people of Rock Creek moved back fearfully. Knowing there was nothing else they could do, Noah, Rachel, and Jesse joined them, and they stood together with bleak, uncomprehending stares.

With a final roar, the saloon slowly caved in on itself, sending up a cloud of dust and smoke that blinded the citizens and rolled out over the entire town.

Lou stirred at the noise and pulled away from Cody, but Teaspoon was quick to step before her, "Don't look, sweetheart, you don't want to see this."

Lou looked at him fearfully, "But I have to see it!"

Teaspoon nodded and closed his eyes, which shone with tears. He'd just lost two of his boys in one night.

Lou very nearly doubled over at the sickness that passed through her when she turned to find the saloon flattened. Cody and Noah both grabbed her arms to keep her weak knees from failing her. Lou couldn't take her eyes off the building.

Then, in a dreamlike fashion, she saw something. She wasn't sure of her eyes at first as she spotted the two silhouettes emerging from a cloud of smoke, both of them walking tall. She found herself unable to blink her smoke filled eyes or to look away. Then, the figures broke out of the cloud of dust and smoke surrounding the saloon and into the lighter haze hanging over the street.

"Kid! Jimmy!" Lou screamed suddenly, and took off for them, sobbing again, but this time with relief.

The others cried out in relief also, and started after Lou.

Kid stopped and stood on unsteady legs as Lou rushed for him. He laughed weakly when she flung herself into his arms, but that laughter soon turned to coughing. Her tears wet his scorched neck, and left trails in the black soot covering him from head to foot. She stood on her toes and kissed him fully on the mouth, not caring what any of the townspeople would say if they saw them.

"Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything I said earlier! Oh Kid! Thank God! I thought you both had been killed!" She rambled on and on, her hands pressed against his cheeks as if she couldn't believe he was safe unless she touched him.

"Well, I had to make sure the saloon burned all the way down so you couldn't go work in it!" Kid said wearily, raising his scorched eyebrows.

"All you had to do to guarantee that was quit being an ass, and admit I was right," Lou said, a slight smile working its way to her face.

"Thought running into a burning building would be more pleasant," Kid laughed, but was instantly wracked by a series of coughs that rendered him breathless and weak. He crashed down on his knees, and Lou kneeled with him, wiping at his sweating brow. He was beginning to shiver with the dampness against the cold air. Not far away, the others gathered around where Jimmy had laid Callie on the dirt and was now having a coughing fit of his own. Callie was slowly coming to, and started coughing also.

"We'll yall are a fine bunch," Teaspoon said, "We'd better get all three of you to a doctor!"

"Aw, Teaspoon, we don't need no doctor!" Jimmy started, but then a wave of nausea hit him, and he was only able to turn and run a few steps before he found himself being sick on the street.

"You're heroes, boys!" A man cried out. Several townspeople raised a cheer.

As Jimmy stood there, doubled over, dizzy, sick, singed, and hurting like hell from jumping out of the back window and diving for the dirt just as the saloon collapsed, he didn't feel like much of a hero at all.

"Hey, where's Jarvis Malone?" Someone asked.

"Didn't he make it out of the fire?" Another one asked.

"I didn't see him inside," Kid supplied between gasps for air.

"I did," Jimmy panted, "He was dead."

"How?" Teaspoon wondered.

"I don't know. Suffocated, I guess..."

Kid's eyes narrowed as he looked away from Lou to Jimmy. If he hadn't seen Malone and Jimmy had, then that meant the saloon owner had been the one locked in Callie's room. Callie had been down the hall, after trying to escape the fire by climbing to the porch but had been stopped by the flames. She had crawled into another bedroom, where Kid had found her. If Callie had time to escape the suffocating smoke, then Jarvis should have too...

Unless he had already been dead when the fire started.

Kid's watering eyes narrowed even further, to veritable slits, as he looked at the girl lying on the ground. _Was she cold enough to be a murderess?_

She suddenly regained her senses and sprang to a sitting position, glaring at everyone around her in confusion.

When her gaze met Kid's, he saw such fury glowing there that he thought he had his answer...

* * *

Kid shifted uncomfortably in the unfamiliar bed. The doctor had demanded the three fire victims stay over night. Lou, who had been sitting in the chair by the bed all night, keeping a diligent watch, had finally nodded off, and her forehead now rested on the bed, her face pressed into the covers. Kid wondered how exactly she could breathe.

He moved slowly, not only because of the incredible stiffness of every muscle in his body, including some new ones he never noticed before, but so he wouldn't wake Lou. Finally he eased out of the bed and stood on his feet. A wave of dizziness hit him hard and he grabbed onto the bedpost to keep from crashing to the floor.

In a moment he felt stable, and began creeping toward the hall and the room they'd put Jimmy in. He let himself in slowly, not wanting to startle his sleeping friend. However, light poured into the hallway as he opened Jimmy's door, and Kid found him sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, staring at a picture in a charred silver frame. Jimmy looked at him with placid eyes as Kid pushed his way into the room and sat down on the bed across from Jimmy.

"Jimmy, I been thinking," Kid started.

Jimmy looked back down at the picture and set it aside. Kid reached for it, and Jimmy obliged him by extending it toward the bed.

"What have you been thinking about?" Jimmy humored him.

"Callie," Kid said cautiously.

"I owe you thanks for helping me save her," Jimmy said earnestly.

"I wasn't exactly charging in there for her, I was going with you to make sure you didn't get yourself killed!" Kid argued.

"For whatever reason then, thanks!" Jimmy said, unhappy with having to repeat the words of gratitude. He'd never been comfortable with that. Not even given that the friendship between them was so much greater than the rivalry that had always been there too.

Kid let his eyes rest on the picture and his jaw tightened. So Callie was a planter's daughter. He should have figured that. His eyes looked over the large colonial mansion that filled the background of the photograph. "Well, you guys were right. At one time she was rich," Kid said bitterly.

Jimmy raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Got a problem with that, Kid?"

Kid shrugged, then shook his head. He had no desire to explain how Callie's kind had walked over his kind in the South for years. In fact, he suspected that not so long ago, Callie would have crossed to the other side of the street rather than walk by the likes of him. Or Jimmy for that matter. The planters considered themselves the aristocrats, the dirt farmers their surfs-no better, and in many cases worse, than their slaves. _Poor, white trash!_ The hated words that Kid had grown up hearing nearly rolled off his tongue, but he stopped them.

"Jimmy, we got to talk."

"Bout what, Kid? It's late!"

"Yeah, and you're still awake and worrying over the same thing I am!" Kid charged him.

"And what exactly is worrying me Kid?" Jimmy asked sarcastically.

"Jarvis Malone's death! Now I know you've put two and two together by now! He was dead before the fire started! And Callie more than likely started the fire!"

"What are you talking about? That's crazy! All I've been thinking about is how Callie went from that," he waved a hand at the picture, "to a saloon girl!" Jimmy protested.

"Oh, come on, Jimmy! Don't be a fool again!" Kid snapped, ignoring Jimmy when he bristled, "I know that Jarvis was in Callie's room! That's where you saw him, right? And you say the smoke got him. But how is it that Callie had time to get out of the room and avoid the smoke and Malone didn't? The only way that could be is if Malone was dead when the fire started."

"You're talking crazy Kid! Jarvis is the one who beat Callie up! He wasn't shot or stabbed! There wasn't a mark on him! I would have noticed!"

"You said yourself that the smoke in that room was worse than anywhere else! How can you be sure he wasn't shot or stabbed? And while we're on the subject of how smoky that room was, did it ever occur to you that the fire started in there? It had to! And I think Callie started it on purpose to cover up Malone's murder!"

"You're crazy," Jimmy repeated, but his wheels were turning. Had Malone finally pushed Callie to the edge? Had she in her desperate attempt to be free of him seen no other way out than to murder him and then burn the evidence?

Kid shook his head and stood up, "You're a fool Jimmy! You've still got smoke in your eyes!"

"Get out of here, Kid!" Jimmy growled, angry at Kid for trying to open his eyes.

Kid started to leave the room.

"So, are you going straight to Teaspoon with this bit of testimony?" Jimmy growled.

Kid didn't turn around, but put his hands on his hips and looked at the floor, "No, Jimmy, I won't. God knows I should, but I'm going to leave this up to you. If I were you, I'd go ask Callie a few questions, though."

"Alright Kid," Jimmy agreed, "Thanks for that at least."

Kid shook his head and still didn't look at his foolish friend, "You may not be thanking me when this is all over."

Jimmy furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Watch your back, Jimmy. I mean that. You don't know she wouldn't turn on you too," Kid warned and left the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Wanted

Kid took a deep breath as he let himself into the hall. He hated confrontations with Jimmy, but lately they grew more and more frequent, and neither of them seemed to be able to stop it. He slowly walked back to his room, and was surprised to find Lou leaning in the doorway.

"You had another fight with him, didn't you?" she wondered, with large, wounded eyes. Kid knew it killed her seeing them slowly grow apart. It seemed they differed on almost everything lately, and more often than not, she found herself in the middle of it.

Kid shrugged, "It will be all right, Lou," he promised. He walked to her and took her into his arms, kissing her forehead.

She pulled away, and wordlessly went back into the room, looking a little betrayed and a lot worried.

* * *

Jimmy sat just as Kid had left him, motionless. His mind whirled. Kid was just jumping to conclusions, he thought, but he knew his best friend's judgement too well for that. Could Callie have murdered her boss and started the fire? Why would she? Surely she knew that everyone would recognize the killing as self defense...Unless it wasn't self defense after all!

Jimmy suddenly squared his jaw and stood up, grabbing the picture frame. He walked briskly out of his room and down the hall to where Callie slept. Just before he opened her door, something at the other end of the hall caught his eye. Lou walked out, leaning against the door frame of Kid's room. She looked at him disapprovingly, almost as if she knew exactly what he was about to do.

Jimmy realized she probably did know of his intentions. He purposefully ignored her glare and barged into Callie's room.

His angry expression softened as he looked at her. Her hair was a wave across the pillow, and her face was more peaceful than he'd ever seen it. Her lashes were so long they cast shadows down her cheeks. She had a few bruises on her face from Malone, and she looked vulnerable and wounded and all he wanted to do for a moment was take care of her.

He walked to her bedside, and leaned over her, whispering her name. Her eyes flew open in alarm, and she opened her mouth to scream, but Jimmy anticipated this, and covered her mouth. "Callie, it's me, Jimmy! We need to talk!"

He took his hand away when he was reasonably sure she wouldn't scream bloody murder. The hunted look in her eyes left him unsure of what she would do. "It's the middle of the night!" she mumbled, "What is so important it can't wait till morning?"

"This!" he growled, and flung the picture frame onto the pillow beside her.

She gasped in surprise as she grabbed the picture, and then sat up and hugged it to her chest. Tears welled in her eyes, "Oh, thank God you saved it! It's all I have left!"

"Left of what, Callie?" Jimmy insisted, "We are going to get this out in the open right here, right now. You are going to tell me who you are, why you are here, and what in God's name happened when I left the saloon tonight!" She suddenly achieved the look of a balking mule, and Jimmy snapped, "Callie! You either tell me, or you tell Teaspoon, and I think you'd better tell me! Because I saw Jarvis Malone's body, and I know that you killed him!"

She bristled and still searched for argument, but then her shoulders sagged in defeat, "All right," she growled with all the enthusiasm of a man walking up the stairs of the gallows.

Her eyes returned to the picture, and she touched each face within the frame with a graceful hand.

"Your parents?" Jimmy wondered impatiently.

Callie nodded, and knew there was no way to escape this young man's direct eyes, "Yes, and my brothers. I grew up on a plantation outside of New Orleans. Sullivan Manor. We raised horses, tobacco, cotton, you name it."

"A slave owner," Jimmy said, his lips pressed tightly together with disapproval.

"In New Orleans, its pretty much a way of life, Jimmy. Has been for hundreds of years. Don't fault me alone for it!"

Jimmy nodded, and realized he sounded as if he were doing just that. "All right, Callie, go on."

"Well, we were of course, very well-off, and very happy. I loved my family very, very much..." Her voice broke off as her throat grew tight.

"And what happened to them, Callie?" Jimmy pushed gently.

She twisted the blankets in her hand, and didn't look at Jimmy, "I was away at finishing school in London. It was a bad summer on the bayou. There was a yellow fever epidemic. My father first, then my mother. I was weeks away! I couldn't even be there for their burial, because the bodies had to be covered quickly!"

Her voice broke and the first tears slipped down her cheeks. Jimmy gently grabbed her hand, but she yanked it away, as if to remind him it was his fault she was crying in the first place.

"And your brothers?" Jimmy asked softly.

"Three of them died," She whispered.

"And the fourth?"

"Daniel left Louisiana long ago. He had abolitionist stirrings, and he and my father had it out. You see, Daniel was the oldest, the one who was supposed to keep the family business going. Daniel refused to have anything to do with slavery, so my father disowned him, cast him out. He went north, to Canada, I think, to help the Underground Railroad. We haven't heard from him in ten years, and I don't expect to. He probably doesn't even know they are all dead."

"So what happened to the house?" Jimmy wondered.

"Bank foreclosed," Callie mumbled, "Seemed they said my father had a lot of outstanding debts. I know that isn't the truth."

"How do you know?" Jimmy asked.

"Because I was always at my father's side, helping him tend to the books. I loved the business of the whole place, and I knew everything about how it ran! Even though I'd been in school for three months before they died, I know he couldn't have gone into debt. Sullivan Manor is one of the most profitable pieces of land in the entire South!"

"So why didn't you fight for it?

"Don't you think I tried? They won't listen to a girl any more than they will a slave!"

"So you left," Jimmy guessed.

"Yes, I left," Callie said, casting her eyes toward the window so he couldn't tell that she hadn't told him the whole truth, "And I rode West. I tried to find work, but I couldn't. No one was interested in hiring me for any honorable professions. I was hungry earlier this winter and staying in the stable with The Ghost. That's when Jarvis Malone found me. He took me inside, and gave me food and medicine. Probably saved my life. To repay him I agreed to work for him. I told him I'd work in his saloon, but under no circumstances would I become a whore. He was agreeable at the time. He led me to believe I might help with the business aspect of the saloon--accounts and such."

Jimmy shook his head, "So you're telling me you went hungry all those months, and then did the very thing you could have done all along to feed yourself in payment for one meal? There's something you aren't telling me, Callie."

I know! Callie thought, but shook her dark head, "Hunger has a way of wearing down a person's pride. Dignity doesn't keep you alive, Jimmy, not for very long anyway. Doesn't taste very good either."

Jimmy let it go, but still suspected he wasn't getting the truth of the matter, "All right, so you start working for Malone, but he's a snake that wants to make every cent he can off you. He tries to sell you off, I buy you. I leave, and I see you later that night, we take a walk, we try to be friends. You go back to your room, I walk home. I get home, turn around, and see that in the time it took me to get there, the saloon has caught fire and is beyond salvation. I rush in to find you, where you are supposed to be locked in your room, but Jarvis is locked in your room, dead. You are nowhere in the room to be found. Fill in the blanks, Callie," Jimmy said unsympathetically.

"Oh, all right," She snapped, then drew a deep breath.

"When I went up to my room, he was waiting on me. He'd blocked the door with a chair. I've never seen him so furious. He said I was giving myself to you for free, and that he was going to teach me a lesson," She paused as Jimmy tensed. She knew that it would work to her advantage if she could make him angry at Jarvis, and also make him feel guilty over getting her to leave the saloon with him. "He kept saying that I wasn't ever going to leave, and that I'd better stop looking for a way out through you. I just tried to please him, and not argue, but he wouldn't hear of it. He started beating me up."

Callie felt fresh tears well in her eyes as she told the truth of the beating, "I thought he was going to kill me! He kept slinging me up against the walls, and no one would help me! I screamed, and no one helped."

Jimmy moved to sit on the bed and put an arm around her shoulders. This time she didn't fight his gentle touch, and leaned against him, sobbing out the story, "He kept saying that he was going to kill me, and I believed him! And, so, when he wasn't looking I picked up my mirror and hit him in the back of the head. He staggered around, and got his hands around my throat," Jimmy glanced at the purple bruises there, and knew she told the truth, "But then, I hit him again, even harder, and he stumbled backwards, reaching out for something to break his fall. He grabbed the oil lamp on the dresser, and it fell. The fire ran across the floor so fast, and then the curtains caught fire. I didn't know if Malone was dead or just unconscious, but there was no time to help him, and even if there had been I don't think I would have! I tried to get out through my door, but the chair was jammed under it, and I couldn't move it! So then, I tried to wake Malone up, but I couldn't! I realized he was dead, and that I'd killed him! I was so scared I ran for the window, but it was too late by that time to get down to the porch, and I had to go crawl into another room. That one was locked from the outside, and the roof had caved in by the time I tried to get out again!"

"Shh," Jimmy whispered, alarmed and uneasy at the force of her weeping. "It's all right now."

"You and Kid saved my life! I never would have made it out alive if y'all didn't come get me out of there!"

Jimmy smiled, "Don't worry about it."

"Jimmy, am I going to have to go on trial? Because with all the fights I had with Jarvis in front of his friends, I won't stand a chance!"

Jimmy considered it, "No, Callie. We'll just let them all think that Jarvis died in the fire. You had no choice!"

She couldn't quite believe that it was over. She was far enough away from the Senator that he couldn't find her, Jarvis Malone and the papers he held to coerce her had burned, and she had one of the most feared gunman in the West prepared to protect her. For the first time, she thought she might actually be free. And if she'd had to lie a little to achieve that freedom, she considered it a small price to pay!

* * *

A week passed uneventfully for everyone. Callie moved into the large main house with Rachel at the woman's insistence. She grew to know and like all of them, especially Lou. When Jimmy made his three-day run, it was Lou that Callie spent the most time with. They rode over the plains, and Callie, who'd always prided herself on her horsemanship, had to admit she'd found her match with Lou. The girl rode as if she was part of the horse, and Callie admired her greatly.

She admired Lou for more than her riding, though. Callie couldn't believe all the girl had been through, and yet she still came out on top, and she was truly in control of her own life. She'd made sacrifices and lived with them, and she'd become the strongest woman Callie had ever met. She'd denied the only options open to her as a woman alone in this land, and had made her own way.

It gave Callie hope to see it.

In fact, the only person she didn't feel welcome near was Kid. He always held back, always watched her carefully. She had been awkward around him from the beginning, even more so than Noah. Noah and she had seemed destined to be at odds, with her a planter's daughter and he a free black man, but they'd even felt the stirrings of friendship. Kid suspected too much, Callie realized, and he could be the one obstacle to her way out. She would have to watch him, she knew.

* * *

"Jimmy's home!" Lou cried out as she and Callie pulled their spirited horses to a halt in the station yard. They'd spent a glorious morning riding across the plains.

Callie thought it foolish that her heart leapt so. While Lou was a wonderful companion, she found she missed Jimmy. In fact, she felt lost at the station without him. She missed the quiet walks they took through town, and she missed the way he always avoided taking her anywhere near the saloon. She missed the long conversations on the swing on the porch, and the races across the plains. She missed how he always pulled his horse up when he thought she wasn't looking and let her win. He was the sweetest man she'd ever known, and she found herself growing more and more fond of him, even though she did her best to talk herself out of it.

Jimmy stepped out onto the bunkhouse porch, and smiled broadly. He was covered in dust from head to toe, and both women giggled at him.

"Kinda hurts a man's pride to be laughed at by two pretty ladies," He pointed out.

"You look like you lost a fight with a chimney sweeper," Callie laughed.

Lou burst out laughing at the analogy, while Jimmy tried to hide his smile and look appropriately hurt. "God help us all with both of you teaming up on us!" He mumbled, "I guess I'll go clean up since I'm so offensive! You two stay out of trouble."

Lou and Callie both giggled in response, and Jimmy walked away with a broad smile, pleased beyond reason that Lou and Callie had hit it off so well. Out back, he plunged his head into icy water and grit his teeth as he washed the worst of the dirt away. When he surfaced, he was surprised to see a man standing directly in front of him.

He leapt for his gun, then saw it was Kid.

"Blast it, Kid, one of these days I'm gonna kill you!"

"No doubt you will," Kid said mildly. "Have a good ride?"

"Now why do I have the feeling you didn't walk all the way out here just to ask me about my ride?"

"Can't a fellow show concern for a friend?" Kid asked, knowing Jimmy was right, but not really looking forward to what he was about to say.

"Not really, Kid," Jimmy answered, reaching for the towel, "So I reckon you'd better just come out and say what you're gonna say. Then, let's go ahead and punch each other a couple of times for good measure, then decide we shouldn't have fought, and go back inside and explain our bruises by claiming we both just fell."

"Like we always do," Kid grinned, and then shook his head, "What makes you so sure I was gonna pick a fight?"

"Cause you're breathin'," Jimmy shot at him with raised eyebrows, "and you're still a son of a bitch."

Kid laughed, "I'm gonna forget you said that andsay what I was planning on saying anyway. I actually came out here to apologize to you. You're right. I had no right to judge Callie like that, and I'm sorry. She's a sweet girl, and Lord knows Lou has taken a real shine to her."

Jimmy studied Kid as if he'd grown another head. He couldn't quite believe that Kid had just come up and admitted he was completely wrong about a woman Jimmy was interested in. He squinted his eyes and looked for signs of illness on Kid.

"Oh,give it up! It's not like I've never been wrong before!" Kid growled.

"I ain't gonna argue with you there, Kid. I just don't think I've ever heard you admit it!"

Kid's eyebrows lowered in a scowl. "Come on Jimmy, I ain't that bad."

"Course not," Jimmy grinned.

Kid started to walk away.

"Hey Kid?" Jimmy called and when Kid turned around he could barely contain his mirth as he wondered, "How many hours did you have to listen to Lou nag you before you agreed to come apologize?"

Kid looked shocked, and started to deny it, but changed his mind and broke into laughter, "I think I passed out after about the fourth hour or so!"

Jimmy laughed loudly, then came to walk with Kid towards the bunkhouse. Kid sighed. He still had his suspicions, but Lou was right. It wasn't his concern, and keeping peace with Jimmy was much more important. That didn't mean he couldn't watch his friend's back for him though.

* * *

"Oh, you look so beautiful, Callie!" Lou cried clapping her hands in delight.

"But not as beautiful as you! Or you, Rachel," Callie smiled, looking at the two women in front of her.

They all smiled, feeling that they did in fact look beautiful. The church was putting on a dance, and the boys had been recruited to be their escorts. It was a task they took on quite willingly.

The women were all as beautiful as they were different. Rachel had chosen a deep blue velvet dress, and it fit her lovely figure beautifully. Her golden curls were piled high on her head. Lou had reluctantly let Callie drag her shopping in town, and had laughed as the southern girl carried dress after dress in for her to try, not content to stop until she'd found her new friend the perfect gown. And the dress was beautiful, Lou finally admitted begrudgingly. It was a wine colored, watered silk gown from Paris. Lou felt a bit foolish and extravagant, but Rachel and Callie were so awestruck that she decided to tough it out and risk wearing it.

However, Lou and Rachel both felt a bit out of Callie's league, though she was too gracious and modest to acknowledge it. She'd repaired one of her old gowns, and it was by far one of the finest dresses Lou or Rachel had ever seen. It was a light purple, too dark to be lavender and too light to be blue, and it almost exactly matched the color of her incredible eyes. Her bare shoulders and neck were exposed and her skin nearly glowed. Her black hair, always so shocking next to herpale complexion, was twisted and pinned up, so that her eyes were the feature that drew the most attention--and they were very arresting.

"Well, let's go get the boys!" Callie said, and giggled again. She hadn't felt so excited about anything since long before her parents died. She missed the parties and balls of her old life more than she realized. A stab of homesickness assaulted her. She missed her brothers and her parents and the fine people they'd always attended parties with more than anything, and even as she looked forward to this one that same loss that she'd never see her father dancing with her mother again hit her square in her chest.

"Dang it! The whole dance is gonna be over by the time we get there!" Cody mumbled in frustration, "What's taking them so long?"

Teaspoon grinned at the blonde boy and said, "Cody, you'd better get used to it. You're gonna be waiting on women for the rest of your life, son! It's one of them facts of life."

"Sides, what are you in such a hurry for? Ain't like you got a pretty girl waiting on you!" Buck laughed.

"That's cause you chased them all out of town at the last dance!" Cody shot back.

Kid just shook his head and shifted his eyes to the main house just in time to see the door open and Rachel and Callie file out. He heard Jimmy take in a sharp breath as he looked at Callie. Kid strained his neck to see Lou, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Come on, Lou!" Callie demanded, laughing at her reluctant friend.

Lou finally stepped out on the porch, very nearly cringing. She wasn't sure what it was that made her feel just like she had that first time in Emma's house when she'd come down the stairs in a dress for them all the first time. It embarrassed her to no end, and even after all they'd been through, it still felt very strange to be Louise with them all there.

"Would you look at that!" Buck exclaimed, "She looks like something that stepped out of one of them magazines from back East!"

Jimmy's eyes finally left Callie and fell on Lou. A small pang of envy went up in his heart, despite himself and his growing attachment to Callie. Lou did look just beautiful. He never failed to be thrilled when she got the chance to play the role of the lovely young woman she was, and his heart ached when he thought of all the times she had to hide herself.

Kid's mouth was hanging open. Teaspoon laughed and reached over to gently push his chin up. Kid walked out to meet Lou. She blushed, almost matching the color of her burgundy gown.

"Doesn't she look just beautiful?" Callie asked brightly.

Kid glared at Callie, thinking that he didn't need her reminding him to tell Lou she was beautiful. But Callie's bright eyes were so guileless and proud of Lou at the moment, he couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, she does. And so do you," He bowed his head slightly at her, and she flushed happily before going to meet Jimmy.

Kid smiled down at Lou and shook his head, "You know, you're beautiful all the time, but I think it might be dangerous for me to take you out into town looking like this!"

"Why's that?" Lou smiled back.

Kid put his arm around her and started leading her toward the buckboard, "Because I don't know if I can fight off all the men at the dance!"

Lou's laughter was wonderful to hear and her embarrassment left her because she knew she belonged where she was at that very moment, at Kid's side.

* * *

Callie's feet were tapping lightly to the music before Jimmy lifted her from the wagon. He laughed at her as she nearly pranced on his arm.

However, neither one of them anticipated the reaction that her entering the room would bring. The music continued playing, but it might have stopped as abruptly as the dancers. Stares were cast upon Callie, and whispers began running through the crowd. Jimmy for a moment thought they were stunned by her beauty, but then he heard what they were saying. The word "whore" ran through the crowd.

Jimmy glanced down at Callie to find her cheeks burning red and tears starting up in her eyes. She looked up at him with so much hurt that Jimmy wished he could have killed everyone in the room. The others, who were coming in behind them had stopped and stared dumbly as they realized what was happening.

Callie's pride was hurt, but her heart ached so much more. Did she really expect to be accepted by this sleepy little church town? Wordlessly she let go of Jimmy's arm and bolted out the door.

Jimmy threw a deadly glare over the crowd that shut them up as he spun to run after her.

"_Leave me alone_!" she screeched at him when she saw him following. Lou was suddenly at his side, clasping his elbow and digging her heels into the ground to stop him.

"She's too embarrassed to face you right now, Jimmy. She needs awhile alone."

"But I don't care what they think about her!" Jimmy growled, "I know she's a lady."

"I know, Jimmy, but her pride's been wounded and seeing you is the last thing she needs. In fact, seeing anyone is the last thing she needs. Give her a bit to pull herself together."

* * *

Callie walked through the night with her head bowed and tears streaming out of her eyes. She couldn't blame the townspeople. Back in New Orleans, she and the other ladies would cross the street rather than walk by a "lady of the profession" as they so delicately called it then. She'd seen more since that time than any lady was supposed to see in her life. Not only that, she'd become one of those women. And though now she saw the foolishness and snobbery of it all from her unique perspective, she couldn't help but realize that others never would.

She found herself standing in front of the charred saloon. It had only taken a day for the town to raise a tent and begin serving drinks in it. Every Western town had to have its whiskey, she supposed.

"Hello Miss Sullivan," A voice suddenly called softly from behind her.

Callie spun around, expecting one of the riders. She didn't recognize the man in front of her, but he obviously knew her.

"The Senator sends his regards!"

Callie didn't wait for him to say another word. Picking up her skirts she bolted back toward the church. The man seemed stunned at the speed of her reaction and took a moment before he gave chase, but his footsteps were closing behind her. She ran even faster, heading back toward the social and Jimmy. She sobbed out in relief when she saw the lights of the church.

Jimmy, who'd been sitting on the buckboard saw her flying towards him, and ran to meet her. Kid, Lou, and Teaspoon, who'd been standing by the doorway, also came out. Callie flew into Jimmy's arms and sobbed, rambling on incoherently in between hysterical gasps for air.

"He found me!" was the only real phrase Jimmy could make out.

Just then the man chasing her showed up, breathing heavily.

"You wanna tell me what the Hell you think you're doing?" Teaspoon growled at the younger man.

The man fished in his coat pocket and brought out a sheet of paper. Callie glanced at it, then realizing what it was, buried her face into Jimmy's chest again, "You might wanna take a look at this, Marshal!"

Teaspoon snatched the paper from his hands and unrolled it. He glanced up at Jimmy and then Kid and Lou in surprise.

Wordlessly he held it up, and they all looked at it and paled. _Wanted for Murder and Robbery, Callie Sullivan. $1000. Alive._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Betrayal and Allegiance

Standing there, staring at the wanted poster with Callie's picture on it, Jimmy suddenly felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. He knew that he must have gone pale. Shock registered first, then disbelief. He glanced at Callie, met her eyes, then looked away just as quickly.

"What's this about? And you'd better talk fast!" Teaspoon warned the man that had delivered the warrant.

Callie felt Jimmy grow stiff and cold and glanced up at him. His face was stony, his eyes the only indication that he felt anything besides anger when he looked at her. They brimmed with a mixture of confusion, hurt, betrayal, and fury. With fresh tears welling in her eyes, she backed from him and stood alone, head bowed.

Lou threw a glance at Kid to find he'd adopted his poker face. If he was surprised at this turn of events, he didn't show it.

The man cleared his throat and spoke in a thick southern drawl, "My name is Robert Washburn. I have traveled from Louisiana, the same as Miss Sullivan, here. Last fall, she left New Orleans after murdering her own brother."

Everyone gasped, including Callie. Her wide blue eyes turned to the Washburn's and they blazed in rage, "How dare you!" She took a threatening step toward the man, but Lou was quick to jump in and place a restraining hand on her sleeve. In spite of himself, the man took a step back in fear.

Jimmy took in a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. He knew the story Callie had told him, and he knew she hadn't told him the entire truth of her flight from Louisiana. But did the girl have such a capacity for cruelty that she could murder her own brother?

"I hope you have some proof behind these accusations," Lou snarled at him. She believed herself a good judge of character, and refused to think Callie could do something so horrible, and if she could she wouldn't without a legitimate reason. Kid sighed and placed a hand on Lou's arm in warning when she would have advanced on the man herself. Kid knew that once Lou's trust and faith was given, it was a hard thing to shake. While it was an admirable quality, he also knew it had the potential to get her hurt.

Robert Washburn tipped his hat to the lady in the burgundy dress, "well, yes, ma'am, of course I do. A United States Senator not only witnessed the murder in person, but suffered a crippling gun shot wound to the arm when he tried to detain Miss Sullivan for due process! The Senator was entertaining a host of Congressmen and the like when he was injured, and all the men there can testify the girl ran away that very night."

"Due process! That's a good one!" Callie growled, but was silent when Teaspoon shot her a reproving look.

"And where is this senator now?" Kid wondered.

"He'll be along in a day or two. I was riding with a friend. When I saw Miss Sullivan I sent him toward Fenton. The Senator sent scouts out in all directions looking for her."

"What is this man's name, and why is he so concerned with the girl? Don't he have more important things to do in Washington D.C. than chase a lone woman across the country side?" Teaspoon asked.

Washburn cleared his throat, "Well, actually he's not a Senator anymore. Retired a few years back."

"You mean he lost the election when folks figured out he was a thief and a liar!" Callie snapped.

"What's his name?" Teaspoon wondered.

"Cyrus Stevenson," Robert Washburn supplied helpfully.

"What are you gonna do Teaspoon?" Lou wondered quietly after a moment of silence had passed.

"Well, I have no choice but to take Callie in," He looked apologetically at the girl, who had the look of a trapped animal--about to do something blind stupid. "When this Cyrus Stevenson gets here we'll see what he has to say. This warrant is official, sighed by the governor of Louisiana and a whole lot of other big wigs. I guess if this fellow is who he says he is, we'll have to turn her over to him."

Callie gasped and Lou started to protest but Teaspoon's sharp look silenced her. Teaspoon looked at Jimmy and then back at Callie, who was staring at Jimmy with something like regret on her face. _Damn it, the boy is about to have his heart broken again!_ Teaspoon thought.

They needed time. Teaspoon could see Callie's need to talk to him brimming in her eyes, and he knew that Jimmy deserved an explanation that the rest of them weren't really entitled to. "Jimmy, will you escort Callie back to the station to get her things?"

Jimmy glanced up at Teaspoon in surprise, and for a moment Teaspoon thought he might refuse. Then he glanced at Callie and wordlessly nodded, starting to walk away briskly without her. Callie threw them all a horrified glare, and then picked up her skirts to hurry after him.

"Do you think that's a good idea, letting him go with her like that? I mean, Marshal, we've chased this girl across the Midwest! If she gets away now..." Washburn began.

"She won't," Kid said simply.

"But if he lets her go..."

"He won't," Lou chimed in, somewhat sadly, and walked away from all of them.

* * *

"Jimmy, wait up!" Callie nearly growled in exasperation, and with few a steps caught up to him. He lengthened his long stride and immediately gained the lead again.

"Damn it! Don't you even want to hear what I have to say?" Callie half-shouted from behind him.

This stopped Jimmy cold and he spun and stormed towards her, stopping when they were toe to toe. "Why would I? You haven't told me the truth yet, why should you start now! Oh, you did a good job Callie! You had me convinced that you needed saving something terrible. I guess Jarvis Malone is the only one that needed saving! Did you murder him before or after you started the fire? Before or after we went on our walk that night?"

Callie's eyes began stinging with tears, but she would have died before she let them fall. His anger brought fury surging back into her, along with the bitterness and fear she thought was behind her when she had decided that having Jimmy look after her wasn't such a bad thing.

"And what about your brother? Did you just kill him, or did you finish off your parents too? Yellow Fever! Is that what they callit in the bayou?"

The sound of Callie's hand snapping against Jimmy's cheek was followed by deadly silence. Callie took an involuntary step backwards, though she knew Jimmy wasn't going to do her physical harm. Seeing the contempt in his eyes, she almost wished he'd strike her instead.

"That's why I didn't tell you the truth, _Wild Bill_! Because you aren't interested in hearing it!"

It was her turn to storm into the lead and toward the main house.

Jimmy didn't say a word as he watched her walk off. He ached to ask her the questions whirling in his mind, but he was too scared of the answers. Too scared that there was more truth behind Washburn's words than he wanted to hear, and that he'd have his heart broken again. Anger was infinitely preferable to the sorrow that was already starting to pullhim down with insistent fingers.

Callie gathered her things with shaking hands. Her heart was thumping in her throat. _He_ was only a two day's ride from her. She couldn't even begin to imagine his wrath when he found her. She shivered, and glanced toward the hallway, where Jimmy waited with that damn granite look on his face. There was no way she could survive if the Senator took her back with him. She swallowed hard, resolving herself to the desperate measures that she would have to take.

She left her bag where it was and crept toward the door, her satin slippers not making a sound. Jimmy was less than three feet away. She leapt for him, and by the time he realized what was happening, her hands were secure on one of his ivory handled colts and she had it leveled right at him.

Jimmy watched her eyes carefully, trying to determine if she would pull the trigger or not. Jimmy realized as he looked at the panic in her eyes and the willful set of her jaw that she would. Her eyes begged him not to make her do it. Jimmy knew he could beat her to the draw. He also knew he couldn't ever put anything as beautiful and alive as she was to death, no matter the chaos she had wrought or the deeds she had done.

"Callie, you can't run forever," Jimmy said softly, "Someday you'll have to pay for what you've done!"

Callie sneered, "When the day comes that _all_ I have to pay for is what _I've_ done, I'll stop running, Jimmy Hickok!"

"They'll find you," Jimmy reminded her, "You might want to consider letting it be when you've got us to help you!"

"There is no help for me, Jimmy," Callie whispered, and finally tears crept into her eyes and they shone like diamonds in the lantern light. The defeated look about her was more frightening than the violent terror she'd shown earlier. "There's nothing anyone can do for me now! I won't forget you. You are a fine man. And I hope, as much as you would like to, you won't forget me too quickly either!"

Jimmy looked down, thinking sadly of what might have been, and realized that he'd never forget Callie Sullivan. Whether she was good or bad, he didn't know, but she was unforgettable.

"Callie, I really think you should..." Jimmy began, starting to look up.

With an apologetic expression on her face she lunged forward and hit him in the temple with his own gun.

He sank to the floor and she darted to the stable, and saddled Ghost with flying hands. She swung onto him, and he skittered nervously at the billowing satin of her gown.

"Ride Safe, Callie," She heard a small voice call, and her heart slammed against the wall of her chest as she whirled the dappled gray around. Lou stood in the stable aisle, her arms wrapped around herself. Callie wished nothing more than to tell Lou, _there's so much more to this than you know,_ but she knew she didn't have to. Lou's words had already told her that she understood.

Without another word spoken, but a world of understanding between the two women, Callie disappeared into the night, flashbacks of the night she'd left Sullivan Manor playing painfully in her mind.

* * *

Heavy footsteps sounded behind Lou a minute later, as Kid slid to a halt in the stable, instantly noticing The Ghost was gone. Kid's eyes, bright in the moonlight, bore into Lou's, which she was careful to keep hidden by the shadows.

"Did she get away?" He asked breathlessly.

"Yes," Lou murmured in a guarded fashion.

Kid shook his head in disbelief, then glared at Lou, disapproval in his eyes.

"You didn't hurt yourself trying to stop her, did you?" he asked sarcastically, "Did you help her get away, Lou?"

Lou glared at Kid, knowing that it was unfair of her to expect him to understand how she knew Callie couldn't go back to The Senator any more than she could have gone back to Wicks. She couldn't even explain it if she wanted to, but that didn't make the knowledge any less real.

"No, I didn't help her," Lou said steadily, and her eyes turned up to his and she looked deeply into them, "But if she asked me to, I would have." She then walked away and toward the main house, gently tugging at her ear bobs, knowing that what could have been a lovely night was over.

* * *

Lou found Jimmy weaving unsteadily from side to side in the hall. She hurried to him with swishing skirts and examined his bleeding head.

"We have to hurry, she's getting away!" Jimmy began, "she hit me with my gun!"

"She's gone Jimmy."

"You sound happy about that," Jimmy charged her weakly.

"Maybe I am," Lou sighed, then looked at the gash on his head again, "Well Jimmy, you are going to have one hell of a headache in the morning. But at least it don't need stitches."

"In the morning?" Jimmy groaned, "Hell, it couldn't be much worse than it is now!"

"Well, we better go tell Teaspoon what happened," Lou sighed.

Jimmy nodded and walked with her, placing a hand on her shoulder for support. At the top of the stairs he wove unsteadily, and Lou gently helped him sit down, and gracefully sank beside him, her burgundy silk skirts surrounding her like a pool of wine. Jimmy put his head in his hands as the weight of what had happened settled over him.

"Oh, Jimmy, I'm sorry," Lou began, placing a hand on his arm.

Jimmy shook his head to stop her, and continued to keep his face hidden. Lou wondered if he shed tears over Callie, but knew that if he did, he was too proud to let her see them.

"_Why?_" he began and paused before continuing, "why didn't she say something?How could she do something like that to me! Why didn't she tell me?"

Lou wrapped her arm around him and laid her head on his hunched shoulder, and though he shrank slightly from the touch, he relaxed eventually with a sigh.

"Jimmy, you know it isn't that simple! Sometimes it isn't as easy as coming out and telling someone! Callie was trapped, Jimmy. How long did I know Kid before I could tell him I was running from Wicks? And I still wouldn't have told him if he hadn't found me, I don't think, not ever!"

"It's different. She killed a man, and probably more than that. Her own brother!"

"Maybe, maybe not. But why did she do it? That's the important question, Jimmy. Did you ask her that? You've killed men too, you know."

Jimmy shrugged and Lou knew his anger and initial hurt had prevented him from giving Callie the slightest kindness or understanding. She was sorry on both of their accounts for that. "You may have been too hard on her, Jimmy. If you recall you've been falsely wanted for murder, and so has Kid,and so has Rachel! A piece of paper isn't hard to come by!"

"But a posse from New Orleans led by a United States Senator _is_ hard to come by, Lou!"

"There are lots of reasons for chasing people, Jimmy. And if the Senator has enough friends where it counts, there may not be anyone asking what his reasons are."

"Maybe so, Lou," Jimmy said, and wiped his eyes and looked at her, "But I want to know just how you plan on explaining one thing."

"What's that?" Lou wondered as she helped him stand up again.

"Why she never denied it."

Lou stood there in silence, watching him stumble down the stairs and out the door. _Who was Callie Sullivan? _she wondered, sinking back down and resting her forehead on the cool silk covering her knees _And what had she brought them all into?_

In a moment, she hurried after Jimmy.

* * *

"I know the name Cyrus Stevenson," Teaspoon muttered for the fourth time, pacing his office. Buck, Cody, Rachel, and Jesse watched him wear holes in the floor. Robert Washburn nervously leaned in the doorway, awaiting the return of Callie and her guard.

"We heard you the first three times, Teaspoon," Cody mumbled sourly, "So who is he?"

Teaspoon glared at Cody and searched his memory, "I got it!" he finally said, "Stevenson was a commanding officer in the War for Texas! He's a highly decorated war hero!"

"That doesn't make things sound too good for Callie then Teaspoon, if he's so respectable," Rachel murmured.

Teaspoon shook his head, "Well, I didn't say he was respectable. I do know one thing though, he wasn't a liar. At least not back then. But he was ruthless. Being under his command was like suicide. He'd send boys in to die left and right. But he never pretended he didn't, or that he wouldn't risk their lives."

"And they called him a hero?" Buck wondered, raising his eyebrow.

"In the military, that's called heroic, Buck. He never failed to take anything he had his mind set on getting!"

"Sounds like a real nice guy," Cody said.

"Here comes the one you sent with Miss Sullivan, and he's coming back alone!" Washburn suddenly cried out, and started towards Jimmy. The others exchanged glances and hurried outside. They stopped in a line in front of Jimmy, and he felt as if he was facing a jury.

"Dare I ask what in God's name happened?" Teaspoon sighed, looking at the cut on Hickok's temple.

"She got away, Teaspoon."

"Yes, I figured that Jimmy, but how?"

"She hit me with my gun," Jimmy mumbled, looking at his toes.

"And what was she doing with your gun?" Teaspoon persisted.

"She snuck up on me and stole it," Jimmy said, beginning to draw lines in the dirt with the toe of the boot he still stared at.

"Idiot!" Washburn thundered, "The Senator is going to have my head!"

He turned to walk away just as Lou and Kid rushed up. Jimmy studied his artwork in the dust for a moment longer before wordlessly striding after Washburn.

"Where are you going, Jimmy?" Rachel wondered.

He kept walking, his shoulders hunched.

"Jimmy!" Teaspoon thundered, repeating the question "Where are you going?"

He paused then and looked at all of them, misery standing in his eyes, along with anger. "I'm going to catch a killer," He said softly, and turned to keep walking.

One by one, Cody, Buck, Kid, then Teaspoon started following also.

"What are y'all doing! You aren't going to do this? She's our friend!" Lou cried out, starting to run after them. But her cries and pleas wouldn't stop them. She watched as they saddled their horses. "You're fools! You may be sending her to a life she doesn't deserve! Or a death!"

"Lou, if you don't want to help us, you don't have to, but you'd better not get any ideas about getting in our way! If you help Callie, then you'll be in serious trouble too! We've got to bring her in!" Teaspoon said forcefully from atop his horse a moment later.

"Pardon me for not cheering you on!" Lou hissed, folding her arms across herself against the frigid night air as the horses began filing out.

"Lou..." Kid began looking down at her.

Lou shook her head, "If you're waiting on my blessing Kid, just ride out! I don't think y'all should give up on Callie so easily!"

Kid sighed, attempting to make some sort of peace. "Lou what do you know about this girl? Nothing!"

"More than I know about this Senator!" Lou shot back, "Go on, Kid, get out of here!" Lou said, looking away from him.

"There's a warrant for her Lou! What if she did do these things? Would you allow yourself to consider that for one minute? Maybe she didn't, but maybe she did! That's for a trial to decide, not us!"

"Ah, yes, due process! We all know how well that always works! Innocent until proven guilty! How grand!" Lou said sarcastically.

"Lou, I gotta go. If for no other reason than to watch Jimmy's back. He's upset right now and he won't be thinking clearly."

"You can say you're going because you want to see some cows fly, Kid. I don't care! It's wrong for you to help hunt that girl down like a dog!"

"Goodbye, Lou," Kid finally said softly, "I have to do this!"

Lou kept her jaw stubbornly clenched, fighting the urge to tell him to be careful. He sighed and wheeled Katy to catch up with the others. She was angry at all of them.

"Run, Callie!" She whispered into the night, "They're coming for you."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Trapped

Callie squeezed her legs more tightly around her horse and leaned further into his neck, urging him on to greater speed. Stretching her arms so far forward that she felt the sleeve of her satin gown give and a rush of frosty air assault her, she cried again into the wind, desperately trying to escape Rock Creek.

Constant glances over her shoulder had given her a stiff neck, and her teeth chattered. Why she had not grabbed her bag before she left Jimmy in the hallway, she would never know, but it was too late to go back now. Tears filled her eyes and blurred her vision of the trail, until everything blended into one dark streak.

She didn't know where she was going, but it wasn't the Senator she ran from anymore. It was the eyes of the man she'd come to care about, seeing her for what she had become that kept her pushing on so desperately. But Jimmy's image rode right beside her, and no matter how far or how fast she fled him, she knew she wouldn't escape.

"Jimmy, do you think it is a good idea for you to be helping those men catch her? I mean, aren't you just a little bit too involved right now to have a clear head over all this?" Kid asked quietly as he urged Katy to trot beside Jimmy's palomino.

"Kid, I didn't ask for any of your worldly advice. Now I know that hasn't stopped you in the past, but this time, I mean it!" Jimmy kicked his horse into a slow lope and pulled ahead of Kid.

"He's almost as hard headed as you when you set your mind to something, Kid," Teaspoon commented from behind him.

Kid shook his head, "Well if I ever decide to help the posse that is hunting down Lou, shoot me."

Cody raised his eyebrows, "Remember that, Buck."

"So, Kid, if you are so convinced that Jimmy shouldn't be here, why are you here? Things would be a whole lot easier for you if you rode back home," Buck pointed out, hiding a grin.

"I just think that Callie needs to face this man, for whatever reason. I don't know if she murdered anyone or not, and I don't know if there is a good explanation. But if the state of Louisiana has enough doubt to think she needs to be tried, then who am I to argue? Besides, I'm here to watch out for Jimmy, just like the rest of you are. And as for Lou, she's not the boss of me!"

Cody and Buck burst out laughing and Teaspoon just shook his head in disagreement, "If you are still stupid enough to think that now, you'll surely be enlightened when you get back!"

Kid glared at them all defiantly, but didn't miss the tightening knot of dread that had started in his stomach when he told Lou he was going and had seen that he did not have her blessing.

* * *

Lou watched the boys until they had disappeared on the horizon. Then, she turned to run to the bunkhouse and awkwardly unzip her dress, and don a pair of her pants and a thick wool shirt. She then grabbed a loaf of bread from the cabinet, her bedroll, and a canteen. She let herself out into the night.

In the stable, Lightning nickered and moved about restlessly, not understanding why all of his stall mates had been taken out in the middle of the night and he left behind.

"It's all right boy," Lou said softly, "we're just going for a little ride. On our own!"

Lighting felt his owner's urgency, and ran strong and fast. His ground-eating strides covered the trail rapidly as Lou set off in the direction Callie had chosen. Luckily it was the opposite one from where the riders were going to meet the senator. She left Teaspoon's warning of the trouble she'd be in if she helped Callie back in Rock Creek.

Lou rode until her horse was exhausted, and knew that Callie must be nearly killing her pale Arabian to keep such a strong lead. Lou guessed that Callie would kill a hundred horses under her rather than go back to the Senator. Sighing, Lou gave up trying to catch her before sunrise, and made camp. She could only hope that Callie was heading to where Lou thought she was. Lou bundled in the blanket intended for Callie, and started a fire. It offered little warmth, and she couldn't imagine how cold Callie, who had taken nothing with her, must be on this night.

Lou woke before dawn the next morning and quickly saddled her horse up. She started out at a gallop and didn't stop until she reached the box canyon that she prayed Callie had fled to. They'd ridden there on a day trip before and Callie had taken special interest in the caves in the wall of the rocky cliff. They'd gone exploring like children and had laughed at the dirt-streaked face of the other when they burst back into sunlight.

Lou spotted Ghost and quickly tied Lightning up, gathering the things she'd brought for Callie before running toward the caves.

"Callie? It's Lou!" She called out loudly, "And I'm alone!"

There was silence for a moment, then she heard a soft cry, "I-I'm in h-here!"

Lou hurried toward the cave the voice came from and found Callie hunched against the wall, shivering with cold. Her attempts at building a fire had failed, Lou guessed by the unburned pile of kindling.

Lou rushed to the young woman and wrapped the blanket around her, quickly going about starting a fire.

"I never did learn much about surviving the wilderness in finishing school," Callie murmured, and both women laughed nervously. "However, I could set a table in an emergency if I needed to, don't you worry about that!"

"Are you all right?" Lou wondered.

"Yes, I am. Have you come to talk me into turning myself in?" Callie wondered.

"No, Callie, I haven't. Why you are running from him is your business. I know I've made my share of mistakes, and I know what it is like to have no way out. I came to see if there was anything at all I could do to help you."

Callie shook her head sadly, "There is no help for me Lou. He'll find me eventually, and then the only hope I have is death."

Lou shivered at the despair in her voice, then suddenly turned and looked into Callie's violet eyes, seemingly glowing in her pale face. "Maybe we can arrange that," Lou said, and when she saw Callie's alarmed look, she laughed, "I'm not going to kill you, silly. We're just going to let the Senator think you are dead. I'll go find the posse and tell them I rode out to try and talk you into coming back, but that I found you on the trial, and that Ghost and you both had taken a bad fall. I'll tell him both of you were dead. Meanwhile, you can hole up here. The ground is rocky here, so it is almost impossible to track you. They'll assume you kept to the road, because no one but me knows you know where this place is. When the Senator is gone, I'll try and talk some sense into the boys, and then you can stay with us!"

Callie sighed, "Lou, you don't even know about what happened. How do you know I'm not a murderess?"

Lou sighed, "And how do you know I'm not going to turn you back in? You just know, and I just know. I'll ask for an explanation when this is over. Then you can tell all of us. Or not. It's your choice."

Callie shook her head, almost baffled by the blind faith of her feisty friend, but Lou had moved on with her plans. "I brought enough food to last you a few days. And here is a flint to start a fire! There's also extra blankets. You'll be safe here," Lou nodded at Jimmy's silver gun, which rested close to her side, "You know how to use that if you have to?"

"I know the general idea. I can't say I'm much of a marksman, though," Callie said, then thought, _If I was, the Senator would be dead and none of this would have happened!_

Lou nodded, "You watch yourself Callie! I'll come get you when it's safe. If you should have to leave, then you go North, towards Sand Creek. Wait there."

Callie nodded, then called after Lou, waiting until the small girl looked her in the eye before she spoke, "Cyrus Stevenson is a vicious, ruthless man. He'll do whatever he has to so he gets his way. You watch yourself too, Lou!"

"I always do! I'll be back in a day or two!"

Callie watched with a lump in her throat as the girl disappeared. She suddenly felt very alone.

* * *

Jimmy studied the large man in front of him carefully, reading his eyes, his manner, his movement. Cyrus Stevenson was a bear of a man with neatly cropped silver hair and a silver mustache that covered a mouth that was too wide. He had washed out blue eyes that in his youth might have been piercing, but had been dulled by too much drink. He was soft bodied from years spent in luxury, and dressed impeccably. He had a commanding air and an arrogance that Jimmy found almost unbearable. However, he also had a polished charm that made some of Jimmy's original abhorrence fade. He was grateful for the help, and time and time again reminded his new recruits how dangerous their criminal was.

Teaspoon excused himself half way through the day, mumbling something about having business in Rock Creek. He personally vouched for his boys, but couldn't hide his dislike of Cyrus Stevenson. Kid saw the look about Teaspoon and knew he was off to try and find out anything he could about the Senator. This made Kid uneasy. If Teaspoon had a bad feeling about this man, then it was something that they couldn't afford not to give heed to.

Cyrus Stevenson eyed his new recruits carefully, not sure they could be trusted. One in particular kept drawing his attention by his sharp stares. Washburn said that this man, the renowned Wild Bill Hickok, had been the one Callie escaped from. He knew the boy was suspicious of him, and he suspected he had mixed feelings for Callie. He couldn't blame the man. She was bewitching.

Better to keep an eye on all the new ones, he thought. He was too close to Callie to have things fall apart now. Oh, how she would pay, he thought viciously and his hands tightened so on his reins that his knuckles went white.

* * *

Lou rode into the station and leapt from Lightning before he came to a complete stop, and almost fell upon her face for all her troubles. She had to hurry and intercept the posse before they found Callie's trail. The clouds looked heavy and laden with rain, and she prayed it would begin soon and wash away the tracks. She ran into the bunkhouse and once again donned her burgundy gown. Washburn had seen her as a lady, and to protect her secret she knew she must remain that way. She struggled to tighten the laces and buttons at the back of the gown, and finally was ready to go.

She picked up her skirts and flew to the stables, finding Jesse there, much to her distress.

He looked at her suspiciously, "Where you going Lou?"

"I don't have time to explain, Jesse. I need you to take care of Lightning and not say anything to anyone about seeing me! This is so important, Jess!"

Jesse's bright blue eyes were troubled, and Lou cringed at the thought of having to entrust him with any secret, especially given his talent for blurting them out. He watched her solemnly as she hitched a quiet mare to a buckboard, and then raised his eyebrows as she struggled with the skirts for a minute while climbing aboard.

"I don't think you should be going anywhere alone, Lou," Jesse began.

"Jesse, I know what I'm doing! And I'll kill you if you say anything to Rachel about this. And when Noah gets back from his run, you just tell him you don't know where I am, understand?"

"Teaspoon said you shouldn't try to help Callie, Lou," Jesse began.

Lou sighed, and knew that the only way to ensure Jesse didn't destroy the plan was to lie to him. "Callie's dead, Jesse," she said somberly, and slapped the reins on the horse's back, trotting from the barn.

Lou didn't have to ride long before she spotted the posse. It was a fairly large group of twenty men, not including the boys. She saw both Kid and Jimmy begin to ride forward to meet her, their faces white with alarm. A huge man at the head of the pack whom she instantly knew to be the Senator began riding forward too, followed by Washburn, Cody, and Buck.

"What's wrong Lou?" Kid called breathlessly, long before he reached the wagon's side.

Lou saw the worry on his face, and then shifted her eyes to Jimmy. She saw such misery there, that for a moment she thought she couldn't go through with the plan. She averted her eyes from both of them, and felt a flush rise in her cheeks. She prayed she'd be able to pull off what she was about to do. She'd never been a very convincing liar.

"To what do we owe the pleasure, Miss?" Cyrus Stevenson asked a note of impatience audible in his polite greeting as he pulled up beside the buckboard.

Lou raised her eyes slowly, and in an instant, tried to ascertain what kind of man sat before her. His voice had the same thick, lilting quality as Callie's. His eyes were a lighter blue than even Kid's. However, they glittered with a hardness unlike any she had ever seen before, save one man, a man she tried daily to forget. His jaw was strong and his teeth well tended, his nose broad and straight. He was, no doubt, a handsome man. But the coldness, the near violent air about him was unmistakable.

"Miss?" He again asked for her name.

Kid instantly noticed she'd grown very red in the cheeks, and he saw the beginnings of fear in her eyes.

"This is Louise McCloud," He offered, "Louise, this is Cyrus Stevenson."

"Ah, the mystery is solved!" Cyrus laughed in a strained manner, and reached for her gloved hand. Lou reluctantly extended it to him, and he pressed his lips to the back of it. None of the riders, nor Stevenson, missed the violent shiver than ran down the length of her spine at the contact.

Kid shifted nervously in the saddle. "What's wrong?" He finally asked.

Lou took a deep breath, and looked the Senator squarely in the eyes, "Am I correct in assuming that you are looking for Callie Sullivan? That you are the man who has so ruthlessly chased her across the territory?"

The Senator narrowed his eyes and gauged the small girl in front of him. The willful set of her jaw and the fire in her eyes made him wary. "I gave chase so _ruthlessly_ as you so delicately put it, only after she murdered her own brother and attempted to do the same to me."

Lou refrained from saying she regretted Callie's failure at the second attempt and instead glanced at Jimmy before continuing. "Well, you finally chased her too far, Mr. Stevenson. She's dead."

Jimmy's head snapped back as he looked at Lou from under the brim of his hat. A terrible pain shot through his middle and left him feeling weak and sick to his stomach. Lou found she could not meet his eyes, and felt pain wash through her as she all but heard Jimmy's heart breaking. As quickly as he raised his head, he lowered it to hide the tears forming in his eyes.

Kid looked more closely at Lou. Her eyes were too wide, her demeanor too calculated. Something wasn't right. He didn't want to say anything, praying to God she had a good reason for whatever it was she was up to, and that she knew this man was not someone to reckon with.

"Dead, you say?" Cyrus wondered, already having been warned of the girl and her objection to the men riding to join with him. Washburn had called her a troublemaker, just like Callie.

"That's what I said. And you call her a murderer!" Lou growled.

"How did our fair Callie meet her end?"

"Her horse took a tumble, I suppose. They both were lying at the bottom of a ravine. There was nothing I could do."

The Senator looked away from the girl's steady brown gaze to his other men. The slightest movement of his head communicated a signal. Satisfied they understood, he turned back to Louise. "That's a lovely thought, my dear. And a clever one. But, of course, I'll need more than that."

"I'll tell you where to see the body for yourself," Lou said quickly, already prepared to send him on a wild goose chase in the opposite direction.

The Senator laughed, and Kid, Cody, and Buck all looked at him in surprise. Jimmy was still too lost in his own misery to notice anything around him. "Ah, that would be a lovely deed! And a wonderful way to divert me and my men. Do you realize that you are standing in the way of due process?"

Lou faintly remembered Callie's scorn at the Senator's idea of "due process." "I am telling you the truth. She is lying in a ravine not fifteen miles South West of here."

The Senator looked at her a moment longer. She was a brave one. In fact, she reminded him of Callie. "It is very fortunate indeed, then, that we ran into you!" The Senator said, and he thought he saw the girl's shoulders sag with relief, thinking her trick had worked.

"You've killed a woman, Sir," Lou said coldly, "I don't imagine that you should feel very fortunate at all."

"Ah, but it is fortunate that we have such a beautiful guide to lead us to the deceased!"

"I want no part in this!" Lou said, "I'll tell you where she is, and you find her yourself!"

"You don't understand!" The Senator said, and with another slight nod of his head his men suddenly closed in and drew their rifles. The boys jumped in surprise as they were roughly relieved of their guns and forced to raise their hands into the air.

Lou jumped for her gun in the velvet handbag beside her, but with one motion Cyrus Stevenson flung out his arm, knocking her across the face and out of the wagon. Kid growled in rage, and he, Jimmy, Buck, and Cody all began to leap for the Senator, but were stopped by rifles shoved under their noses. When Kid still lunged forward, the man guarding him quickly struck him in the temple with his rifle, and he fell to the ground.

Lou gasped and brought a hand to her stinging cheek, quickly struggling to her feet as the Senator nearly rode his horse over her. She jumped from the restless animal's path and glared at him.

"You have no right to hold us here!" She began.

"You are free to go, my dear," The Senator said, then laughed at the confusion on her face, "But heed my advice. You either return here with Callie in two days or I start shooting one of your friends for every additional day she doesn't return. And this young hero here," he motioned to the unconscious Kid, "will be the first!"

"She's dead! Why can't you just let us go?" Lou began.

The Senator reached down to grab her arm and twist it violently, nearly picking her up off the ground as he leaned down until their faces were barely an inch apart. Again, Jimmy, Buck, and Cody started forward and were held back.

"She's not dead, my dear. I know that much. You should have picked any other type of death than an accident on horseback. She's an adept horsewoman! But even if by some chance you do tell the truth, you will bring me her body, and if you do not, I will bring you _his_!" Again he nodded toward Kid.

Lou's eyes narrowed and she tried to pull away from him. He held her tight, and suddenly fury bubbled through her and took over her common sense as she spit into his face. Reflexively, he struck her to the ground. "It is your choice, my dear!" Cyrus Stevenson said, wiping the girl's spit from his face with a handkerchief that was too white given the dusty surroundings, "I'm proposing a trade. These four for Callie. Fair enough, I wound think."

Lou wrinkled her brow, looking for a way out.

"Well, Miss McCloud, what will it be?"

Lou felt hate for the Senator choke her as she looked to Kid, now moaning slightly as he struggled to come to, and then at Cody, Buck, and Jimmy. There was really no choice to make. They were part of her, and while she was exceptionally fond of Callie, she loved them all more.

"I'll bring you Callie," Lou finally said, her voice barely a whisper.

"I thought you'd see things my way!" The Senator smiled, "Oh, and, sweetheart? Don't think of trying anything funny. If I see you riding in here with anyone other than Callie Sullivan, I'll kill them all on sight!"

Lou shuddered, believing him. "You'll never get away with this!" Lou growled at him.

"Ah, but that's where you are wrong! I get what I want! And your friend Callie is finally about to learn that very important lesson!"

Lou turned to go, and the whole posse watched as she climbed onto the buckboard, tripping several times in her hurry. Many of them snickered at her and none offered her assistance. Just when she would have wheeled and started at a mad pace for Rock Creek to get a fresh horse and find Callie, Cyrus blocked her path, then rode over to her. He reached into the inside pocket of his coat, and withdrew something, concealed in his hand.

Smiling, he reached over and slowly slid it into the front of her gown. She gasped in anger and shock, and pulled back, and again the boys growled and lunged forward. This time Jimmy was knocked to the ground as a result of his refusal to back down. "Don't you touch her!" He screamed in anger, wiping blood from his mouth.

With cheeks flaming in fury and humiliation, Lou reached down into her dress to withdraw the object.

"You give that to Callie," The Senator said, and laughed heartily. "She'll understand."

Lou glanced down into her gloved hand and wrinkled her brow in confusion at the playing card she held in it.

It was the queen of hearts.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Whole Truth

Lou glanced into Jimmy's eyes, but he looked away, knowing all to well the guilt she was feeling. Lou's eyes grazed over Cody and Buck, and then over the unconscious Kid. Her lower lip trembled slightly as she glared at the Senator and then wheeled the buckboard and mare around and rumbled away at a mad pace. The wind whipped tears from her eyes as she raced for Rock Creek.

She wasn't but a few miles away when she spotted a buckskin horse coming at her in full gallop.

Noah pulled up breathlessly and looked questioningly at her attire, then at her wild eyes, "What's going on? Jesse told me that Callie's dead, and she was wanted for murder. He said that you'd gone after the boys after they joined up with the posse to catch her."

"Noah, I've been so stupid!" She hurriedly explained the events of the last two days and concluded, "he said if I don't bring Callie to him in two days, he'll start killing them! There's no time to waste! I'm so scared Callie didn't stay where I left her! What if she's gone, Noah?"

Noah reached over to put a gloved hand on Lou's small shoulder, "Calm down, Lou. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Lou shook her head vehemently, "No, Noah. We can't try anything funny. This man is dangerous, and he means what he says. He told me if I came back with anyone other than Callie he'll kill the boys on the spot, and I have no doubt he meant that. We can't tell Teaspoon!"

Noah sighed, and tilted his hat back, "Teaspoon's gone anyway. He rode to Fort Laramie."

"So what can we do?" Lou wondered.

Noah sighed again, "All I can see to do is get Callie."

* * *

Jimmy stared at his hands, bound tightly in front of him, and fought off the urge to scream and fight the ropes with all he had.

"Relax Jimmy, I know Lou and I know when she's lying. Callie is not dead," Kid said, wincing as he brought his bound hands up to gingerly trace the knot on his temple. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach, and he was worried not only for their situation, but also for Lou's.

"What if you're wrong? What if she died because we wouldn't listen to her?"

Cody sighed and glanced over at his friend. In a rare moment of subdued wisdom he pointed out, "You had no way of knowing. Callie should have told us about this so we could help her."

Buck nodded, "She didn't trust us any more than we trusted her."

"I'm beginning to wonder if a woman like Callie is worth all this trouble," Kid muttered.

Jimmy would have lunged for Kid at that moment but for the Senator's voice. "A lady like Callie is worth it!" the senator said, having crept up and listened to the boys' conversations. Jimmy jumped away from Kid as he continued, "I wonder if you boys know just what she's worth!"

"A thousand dollars apparently," Cody muttered, and the Senator delivered a swift kick to his middle that doubled him over and left him coughing in the dirt.

* * *

"Callie! _Callie! Get out here!_" Lou's voice sounded unusually shrill and bounced off the canyon walls many times.

Callie jumped awake from her crouched position in the back of the cave and fought to open her eyes. She'd just gotten warm it seemed, after hours of trying to sleep, and stirring wasn't a welcome thought. There was no denying the panic in Lou's voice as she shrieked again, and so Callie quickly scrambled up and out into the overcast day.

Lou was running up toward her, tripping over her burgundy skirts, the ones that Callie had so proudly picked out for her. Her face was bright red with the wind. She noticed Noah standing by the horses, looking up at her expectantly.

"What is it?" Callie called out to Lou long before she reached her.

Lou stopped in front of her, chest heaving with exertion and eyes glassy with fear and lack of sleep. "The senator has the boys."

"What do you mean?"

"He said if you didn't come back, then he'll start killing them, one by one," Lou said grimly, "And I think he means it."

Callie grew very pale, and moved about restlessly, her heart beating in her throat. "He does mean it," Callie whispered, and brought her hand up to sweep her hair off her forehead and then cover her mouth, "Oh, God, I can't go back!"

Her eyes were gaining the look of a wild animal. Suddenly she moved as if to bolt to her horse, but Noah had caught him and held him with their animals.

"It's time to stop running Callie. We don't want to make you go back to him, but the others will die if you choose to keep running. And he'll find you eventually." Lou murmured. Callie looked to her feet at Lou's words, knowing them to be true. "He isn't going to kill you, Callie. He's going to kill them."

Lou reached into her gown and pulled something out. "The senator asked me to give you this. What is it anyway? What does it mean?"

Callie took the card as if it might burn her hand, and winced as she turned it over. The tears that had filled her eyes spilled over as she closed them and bowed her head in defeat. "It's the queen of hearts," She said simply, and gathered her skirts to run toward Ghost.

"I know that! What does it mean?" Lou asked again, running beside her and tugging on her arm, "Callie, if you run away from him he's going to kill them!"

"I'm not running away from him. I'm running to him," Callie growled, all the cultured softness gone from her voice, and in its place a cold, hard resolve.

Noah stood back as she mounted her white horse, and wheeled him around.

"Wait for us Callie!" Lou cried out, but in vain because Callie was already thundering out of the canyon, the queen of hearts still clutched in her hand.

* * *

Callie pulled up her horse in plain sight of the camp. Her heart beat in her throat, and she felt dizzy with fear. She spotted Jimmy, Kid, Cody, and Buck, each tied to separate posts, and squared her shoulders. Her eyes drifted to a large tent set up in the middle of the camp, and knew the senator rested within it.

She glanced down at her dress, now dirty and torn. She knew her hair must be wild and her face dirt streaked. She made a half-hearted attempt to wipe her face clean and pat down her curls. She didn't want the senator to see her so disheveled, but she had no choice.

A glance over her shoulder showed her that Lou and Noah were riding hard on the horizon. They'd tried to catch her all day, but she'd kept a strong lead the entire ride back. Her Arabian was bred to run long distances, which had kept her at an advantage over the heartier Western horses. Slowly, she urged her horse toward the camp, sitting tall in her saddle and not allowing Ghost to move faster than a stately walk.

Jimmy raised his aching head slowly, and squinted as he spotted Callie. At first he thought he must be dreaming, so convinced was he that she was really dead. However, Cody and Buck's murmurs of surprise told him that she really was slowly riding into the camp.

Gratitude to see her alive took Jimmy. She sat tall and motionless on her horse, with her shoulders squared. Her head was held high and her chin jutted out stubbornly and determinedly. Her eyes blazed, and Jimmy had never seen them such a stormy hue, not even during her encounters with Jarvis Malone. He noticed her gown torn in several places, but she might have been dressed as a queen for all the disdain written on her face. Anyone who gazed at her would recognize her for what she was and always had been-the Lady of the Manor.

Callie blinked again and concentrated on keeping the trembling from working into her hands. She allowed herself to glance over at Jimmy, and was surprised to find him staring intently at her. On his face she saw a mixture of concern, apology, and regret. She caught the way the corner of his mouth twitched as he nodded his head to her, and she knew that he also admired her.

It filled her with warmness momentarily.

However, soon Cyrus Stevenson's men were shouting to him, and he strolled out of his tent.

Callie still sat quietly on her horse, trying to control the onslaught of emotion that poured into her heart as she gazed at the big man in front of her. Hate, fury, bitterness, fear, and grief washed over her like a rushing river, and she felt slightly dizzy. She was determined to meet his pale stare. She liked the advantage of being on horseback. It made it that much easier for her to stare down her nose at him distastefully. She didn't blush or look away as he strolled over to her.

"Well, I'm glad you've come to your senses, my dear!" Cyrus began, "Of course, you have no idea the price you'll pay for what you've done!"

Callie narrowed her eyes, and they glittered icily, "Nothing has changed between us. I'll still never agree to what you want me to!"

This seemed to enrage the senator, and with the riders watching in horror, he reached up to yank Callie off her horse and shove her into the dirt. When she would have climbed to her feet, he kicked her swiftly in the side, his booted foot coming into contact with her arm. She bit down the cry of pain, and then slowly tried to climb to her feet again.

Again, he knocked her down.

"It's time for you to learn your place, Miss Sullivan!"

Callie said nothing, but continued to push herself to her feet.

"Stay down!" Cyrus roared, and hit her again.

This went on for some time, a sheer battle of will on Callie's part, with the senator growing every angrier, and hitting even harder. It was a horrible spectacle for the boys to watch, as the senator tried to break down her will, and Callie refused to back down, getting hurt badly because of her pride.

"Stay down!" Kid cried out at one point, unable to stand the scene. Jimmy's wrists were raw from trying to escape and come to her aid. And finally, Callie had no choice but to stay down. Her body was sore and battered, and she knew she didn't have the strength to stand, even if the senator allowed her to. So, she sat in the dust and looked up at him with daggers in her eyes.

"Let them go. You have me now," Callie finally gasped out, wiping at the bloody corner of her mouth with her fine silk sleeve. "I'm what you came for."

"Fond of them aren't you? Even had them fooled...at least that one," he motioned to Jimmy, "That's why you came back, to save them?"

"What does it matter why I came back? You win now," Callie muttered.

"Yes, I do. However, I can't very well let them go, Callie," Cyrus grinned, as the riders shifted uncomfortably and listened for their fate, "Why, they'd have a posse after us in no time."

"I mean nothing to them," Callie said, which made the boys look to the ground in shame, and Jimmy shake his head softly, "They rode out here to help bring me in. But now I'm here, and they are not involved."

"Where's the girl that told me you were dead?" Cyrus demanded.

"Behind me. I left her to get here more quickly."

"Ah, yes, and save your dear friends!"

"Let them go, Cyrus," Callie said, her eyes and voice turning almost pleading, "You've got me."

"I can't let them all go," the senator said, "but perhaps we could just keep one for insurance purposes..."

"No! You let them all go!" Callie said forcefully, and was slapped across the face for her efforts.

She climbed to her feet slowly and stiffly, and stood with her arms pressed close to her sore ribs. She met the senator's pale eyes, and found herself wishing to wake. So many of her nightmares had involved standing in front of him as she did now. "Let them go!" She repeated.

"I think you know as well as I do the only way they get to go," Cyrus said slowly, grinning and leaning down to pick up the card that Callie had dropped in the struggle, "and it involves this."

He held it under her nose, "I hope you have better luck on the second try than on the first!"

Callie felt her resolve slip, and tears sprung to her eyes, but she did not shed them. She looked at the old card.

The senator then snatched it from under her nose and examined it himself. "I do believe that this card has a few spots of blood on it from the last time we used it. Remember that glorious summer afternoon?"

Callie looked away to keep from lunging at the man's throat, and tears escaped her eyes as she remembered the day the senator spoke of all too well.

Jimmy watched her tears and wondered what in the world could cause her to drop her pride and let this man see her cry. An unmerciful beating hadn't made her control slip, and yet, the sight of the simple playing card brought the tears down so quickly.

"I won't do it!" Callie growled, "I mean it this time!"

"That's what you said the last time. I guess we'll just have to use the same methods again! You _will_ do it!"

"No!" Callie snapped back, "You aren't going to get away with this again!"

"Oh, yes I am, my dear, and then we are going back to New Orleans to pick up where we left off!"

Callie lunged for him without warning, and sent fingernails raking across his face. She kicked him hard in the shins, and he cried out in pain before two of his men drug her away from him.

"Tie her up with the others!" Cyrus snapped, wiping at the blood with his handkerchief, "We'll begin this at sunset!"

Callie soon found herself bound in front of Cody, Buck, Kid, and Jimmy. They all looked miserable and guilty.

"Callie, I'm sorry!" Jimmy began first.

She shook her head quickly, "No, I should have told you the truth. I just wasn't sure if you would believe me."

"Why don't you tell us now?" Kid wondered.

"It is too late!" Callie began miserably, feeling utterly hopeless.

"No, it isn't! We'll figure something out! But we have to know what we are up against, Callie," Jimmy assured her.

Callie looked at the dirt, and sighed, immediately wishing she hadn't because it sent pain through her sore ribs.

"I've never told this to anyone," She began quietly. Her eyes sought Jimmy's and she held them steadily as she spoke. "My parents really didn't die of the fever. I was away at finishing school when I learned they were dead, and that was the story that I was told. By the time I got home from London, two of my brothers were dead also, supposedly from the fever too. But it was very soon that I learned it wasn't the fever after all. It was Cyrus Stevenson. He killed them all.

"I arrived home, and was waiting for my third brother, Jonathan, to arrive. He'd been on his grand tour to Europe when all of this happened. Cyrus Stevenson called on me one of my first days back. I thought it was strange because he and my father had always been enemies. Our land was some of the best in Louisiana and Stevenson wanted it for his own from the first day he laid eyes on it. Of course, my father wouldn't sell, and Stevenson set out to destroy him any way he knew how. The Sullivans were too established and respected for that to be effective, and the senator came out looking very foolish. It ruined his career.

"Stevenson served me with papers saying the bank was foreclosing on our plantation. He'd bought the bank, I found out later. I argued with him, and told him I had the ledgers to prove that was impossible, but it seems he'd thought of that first. Every one of them was missing, and there was nothing to disprove the evidence he'd construed to foreclose. He'd already bought the place and informed me he was moving in.

"You can imagine my reaction. I was furious, but also shocked and scared out of my mind. My brother wasn't there, I'd just lost my parents, and I had no way of knowing what to do. I told the senator that I would fight him, and so would my brother, and that I knew people in New Orleans who would see to it this didn't happen, and that's when he grabbed me. He beat me up and locked me in the attic." Callie's eyes filled with tears, "I didn't see anyone for days. I had no food, no water, and no light. I thought he meant to leave me up there to starve to death. I really didn't care though. I just spent most of the time sobbing over my family's death and wishing to die. A few days later, one of our house servants came in and brought me food and water. She told me in the few seconds she was allowed to be near me that the Senator had told the slaves if they said anything of my presence then he'd kill them and their families. One of our oldest, and most loyal slaves tried to get word to someone, but the senator found out, and sure enough, killed the poor old man. He whipped him to death.

"I was left in the attic, and only fed every few days. I wondered what would become of my brother, when he arrived in a few days or if he was already there and locked up also. I expected to spend the rest of my life locked in that dark room. A day later the Senator came in. He offered me a place in his bed. Of course, I refused, and he beat me and left me in the attic. Four days went by before I saw anyone. The slave woman told me that the senator would let me out if only I'd agree to serve him, but I was too proud to serve the man who had stolen my home and my life, and I refused."

Callie put her head in her hands for a moment and shook it, "But dark solitude does strange things to a person. You begin to miss human contact and light, and you ache for any chance to hear another's voice. I imagined myself going crazy, because I would recite poetry for hours on end, just to hear the sound of my own voice. Finally, about a week and a half later, I grabbed the slave woman and begged her to take me out, promising to serve the senator or whatever it took. She had to nearly beat me off of her, and left me there. I began screaming and clawing at the door, and I think I was very nearly mad."

She held up her hands and the riders winced as they for the first time recognized the tiny scars on her fingertips that clawing at the door had left on her.

"It wasn't long before the Senator came up to take me out of that horrible room. For days I couldn't bear to hold my eyes open in the light, but still he expected me to work. And I did work, doing everything he said, so terrified if he was displeased he would lock me back in the attic and leave me there to die. I dreamed of escaping, but if he didn't have his eyes on me, one of the slaves did, and they feared his wrath too badly to let me escape. He didn't ask me into his bed for those first few days--I'm not sure why but he didn't.

"I was serving him breakfast on the veranda when I happened to look up and see my brother riding down the drive," Callie closed her eyes and could see the youngest of the Sullivan boys thundering in on his black stallion. It had been the last time she'd ever seen any of them on horseback. They'd all been such beautiful riders, nearly becoming one with the horse as soon as they were astride.

Jimmy winced. Good God, the poor girl had been stashed in darkness for weeks, after having just lost her family. And he had a feeling he knew what would happen to the youngest brother.

"I broke away from the Senator and ran towards my brother before he could stop me. Jonathan didn't understand my incoherent cries to ride away, and he pulled me to him in an embrace, thinking I was hysterical, which I was, but for good reason. The Senator came out with his rifle, and ordered my brother inside.

"Once there, he explained to us how he'd killed our parents, and why. He'd offered to buy the land once more, and my father had ordered him away from Sullivan Manor forever. The Senator had grown furious. He'd waited for my father to go on one of his daily rides, and shot him in the back. When my mother and two brothers ran out to see what the matter was, he killed them too. He started a rumor about the yellow fever, and whispered that several of our slaves were sick too, and that the epidemic was spreading. None of the society folks would risk coming out, and the Senator handled their deaths very quickly. No one even questioned why he'd been the one to discover them and why he'd never contracted the disease. I found out later that was because Cyrus Stevenson now owned the mortgages on some of the most powerful people in New Orleans, including the law. They couldn't afford to question him.

"And then, he told me and my brother that my brother was about to contract Malaria. I became hysterical and tried pleading and begging with the senator, and even fighting him, which I hadn't dared since being locked in the attic, but he would hear nothing of it. He told me I would have one chance to save him, and that was if I drew the right card from the deck he held. He wouldn't say any more than that.

"And so he tied my brother up in the yard to a tree, and stood about five feet from him. He held the deck of cards out to me. At first I refused, but he threatened to kill my brother right then and there and not give me any chance at all. So I drew a card. I barely dared to glance down at it. It was the queen of diamonds."

"The senator smiled and without taking his eyes from mine, raised his gun and shot my brother before I could move. I ran to him, but it was too late," A hiccoughing sob escaped Callie, and Jimmy longed to take her into his arms but couldn't, "He was dead. The senator came to stand over me, and threw the queen of hearts down on my bleeding brother. 'This card would have saved your brother, princess' he told me, and then dragged me away."

"Oh, Callie," Jimmy said very softly, and she bent her head and allowed the tears to flow. He stretched his hands out toward her, but they were bound tightly so they fell far short of their goal. She shook her head and blinked back her tears, and raised her eyes again.

"I tried to run, to tell anyone who would listen, but he began keeping me under lock and key. I refused to serve him again at first, but the solitude wore down my pride again. When he tried to bring me to his bed, although I'd been prepared to do anything to keep from being locked up again, I just couldn't bear it for him to touch me. I fought him off on several occasions. All I had to do was to picture my brother lying dead in my arms or my mother and father's grave, and it gave me strength to refuse him. He kept me locked up, thinking it would wear me down. I was determined that it wouldn't. But he's a persistent man--Cyrus. He got what he wanted eventually, when his patience finally ran out."

Callie's cheeks flooded with heat and shame, her voice trembling in hatred. "He was entertaining many important men when he decided to share me with a friend. The house was filled with congressmen and the like. He must have had too much to drink, because late that night the door to the attic opened, and he came in with another man that I now know was the mayor of a small town not too far from New Orleans. Both of them were drunk. The mayor advanced on me first, and tried to have his way, but I'd found a heavy candlestick in the attic to use against the senator, so I reached for it, and hit him in the head. I guess he was killed instantly, I didn't wait long enough to see. I hit Cyrus with it when he came after me, and he was knocked out. I ran from the attic to my old room and gathered whatever I could. Then I went to my brother's room, and found his pistol. I was almost out the door when Cyrus caught me. He slung me into our parlor and hit me with a fire poker about three times. I finally got away from him, and pointed the pistol at him," Callie closed her eyes and remembered the hideous look on his face as she'd leveled the gun, "I intended to kill him," she admitted, "But my aim was bad and I only hit him in the arm. It was enough to stun him though, and I ran from the house and escaped in the confusion that followed."

"And you've been on the run ever since," Kid said grimly.

"Yes. Jarvis found me when I was very ill. He figured out who I was, and threatened to turn me in if I didn't work for him," Callie said quietly, looking at Jimmy as she remembered how bitterly angry she'd been the day she'd first seen him. In fact, she thought, she'd been bitterly angry since her arrival from Europe, and only after meeting Jimmy had she found herself feeling anything but hatred and grief.

"Did you kill him, Callie?" Jimmy asked her quietly, looking away from her for the first time.

"Yes, I did," Callie said honestly, and though he'd expected as much, Jimmy couldn't stop the stare of surprise he gave her, and neither could the others.

"And you started the fire to cover it all up?" Kid wondered.

"No!" Callie growled, "Jarvis knocked over the lamp when he fell. I hit him in the head to stop him from killing me! I didn't mean for him to die, or for the fire to get started, but I'm not sorry he's dead or that that horrible place is in ashes!"

"Neither are we," Buck assured her quickly.

Callie sighed and glanced at the slowly sinking sun, knowing it was only a matter of time before the Senator came back out to begin executing the riders. "And it was all for nothing! I'm going to end up back at Sullivan Manor with him!"

"No you aren't! You're forgetting, Lou and Noah are still out there," Cody said.

"They aren't coming! They would have been here by now!" Callie whispered miserably.

"Nope, they are just biding their time, they're out there," Buck said confidently, his eyes scanning the land, "They're watching us right now."

Kid nodded and clenched his teeth. He wasn't sure if he wanted Lou riding in here or not, even given the lack of options they had and the knowledge he had about what the Senator was capable of.

"Well, they'd better hurry and do something," Callie said softly, "Cyrus said sunset, and for all his other faults, the man is punctual."

"They'll be here," Jimmy reassured her, but nevertheless cast a restless glance over at the Senator's tent, then over the landscape.

* * *

"Well, so what are we going to do?" Noah asked quietly, "And don't even think about saying 'rush them', okay?"

Lou shrugged, and attempted to straighten out her cramped limbs. They had been laying in the dirt behind a small bluff overlooking the camp for almost an hour, trying to figure out how in the world they were going to help the boys. "Well, we can't just stay here! And we've got to do something before it gets dark! There's no telling what the senator will do then! I think we've got no choice but to just simply ride in there and get them!"

"Sounds easy enough, just as long as he keeps all the men in his posse bound and gagged!" Noah snapped sarcastically.

"He doesn't keep his men bound and gagged," an unfamiliar voice said quietly.

Lou and Noah both gasped and flung themselves around, shocked to see that a tall man had crept up behind them. He leveled his revolver at them and said calmly, in the Southern drawl they were growing so accustomed to, "I'll give you about two seconds to tell me who you are and what you are doing here."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A Final Reckoning

Lou and Noah scrambled to their feet, holding their hands up.

"Who are you?" The tall man repeated.

"Who are you?" Lou shot back at him.

His hat shielded his eyes, but she saw the corner of his mouth twitch in irritation. He shook his head and said, "I asked you first, and I seem to be the one holding this gun, so why don't you answer my question before I lose my patience."

Noah glanced at Lou, who stood with her chin jutted out stubbornly and her jaw clenched. Knowing well enough what that meant, he supplied, "I'm Noah Dixon. Your posse is holding some of our friends without cause."

"And who might they be?" The man asked.

"Pony express riders," Lou spoke up, "Your precious senator is going to execute them!"

"Who said I was with the posse?" The man wondered.

"Aren't you?" Lou asked evenly.

His lip curled into a smile and he shook his head, "I don't believe I know your name, Miss?"

"It's not important! But you listen to me! Callie Sullivan is an innocent girl who has been hunted down by that man!"

Suddenly, the man's teeth flashed in a smile and he swept off his hat. Lou and Noah both gasped in surprise. The man sitting in front of them had coal black hair and brilliant blue eyes. Eyes that were unlike any they had ever seen...with the exception of Callie. "I'm Daniel Sullivan, Callie's brother, and I couldn't agree with you more."

"I thought all her brothers were dead," Noah began suspiciously.

But Lou was shaking her head slowly, "No," she murmured reflectively, "Callie told me that one of her brothers was alive and had gone to Canada to help with the Underground Railroad."

Noah instantly sized the man up, as if trying to decide if he was worthy of the admiration he felt for him that instantly followed the words _Underground Railroad_.

Daniel nodded, "Yes, but one of our slaves escaped and made it all the way north to tell me what had happened at the plantation and that Callie was the only one left. I'd forsaken my family long ago, but I couldn't let the senator get away with what he has done to them!"

Lou saw the flash of grief cross his features and could only imagine the nightmare of learning that the people he'd never made peace with were all gone, and never could he seek or offer forgiveness.

"I haven't seen Callie in ten years. I rode down and found the posse just outside of Texas. I've tracked them ever since, waiting for them to lead me to Callie. I just hoped to find her first! But now, I'm going to get her!"

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Noah began, "You know how many men he has, don't you?"

Daniel dug around in his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper, "A pardon from the governor of Louisiana. Horace, that's the slave who rode to Canada to find me, and I begged an audience with him on our way back to New Orleans. I explained everything, and it turns out he and my father knew each other well. He has offered to set the whole matter straight, and order an investigation into the matter. As the oldest son, I have a right to reclaim Sullivan Manor, much as I don't want it."

"You can at least liberate the slaves there," Noah began.

"There's time for this later! Right now, let's go get the boys and Callie!" Daniel smiled at Lou, "I still don't know your name," he said in his delightful drawl.

"Louise," She offered him shyly, and was glad that a certain other southern man already held her heart quite securely, because she feared this one could have swept it from her easily if Kid had not done so long ago.

"Louise, you must be a very brave woman to put yourself in this kind of danger for my sister," He said as they began walking toward the horses.

Lou offered him a smile, and on her cheeks appeared two bright spots of red that only served to broaden his smile, "I'm no braver than she is, sir."

* * *

Cyrus Stevenson walked out of his tent with his pistol in one hand and a deck of cards in the other. Of course the poor girl could draw any one of them and still not save any of the young men, but he couldn't have anyone saying that he wasn't sporting. He was surprised to see his posse gathering to watch three horses ride slowly into camp.

Murmurs flew from them and were passed along.

"That's the missing one," He heard one of the men say as he pushed through the crowd and came to a stop in the front of them.

He recognized the girl from earlier that morning, and with her two tall men, one black and one white. The latter stepped from his horse and came to stand before him.

Slowly the new arrival pushed back his hat with his index finger, and the Senator couldn't control a gasp. He felt that surely the breath must have left his body as he looked into the eyes of a man he'd murdered and buried. They were the same piercing, icy blue as Callie's, but even more so of Thomas Sullivan, the rightful owner of Sullivan Manor. They were set in the same angular, striking face, framed by the same heavy dark brows, separated by the same prominent nose.

"Why you look like you've seen a ghost," Daniel drawled slowly, "And you may well wish you had by the time you finish hearing me out! My name is Daniel Sullivan. And this paper," he'd raised his voice so the whole posse could hear him and waved the document, "this paper releases Callie Sullivan from all charges, and places Cyrus Stevenson under arrest for murder! It is signed by the Governor of Louisiana!"

Cyrus Stevenson was too shocked at the moment to do anything but stare into the eyes that occasionally haunted him in his sleep. Lou watched him and the men carefully. There was general chaos as the men talked amongst themselves. Stevenson continued to stand where he was, not daring to move.

"Furthermore, it restores Sullivan Manor to the Sullivans! You killed my father, my mother, and my brothers, and have done my sister great harm! And I will see to it, as God as my witness, that you pay in every sense of the word sir!" His voice remained calm, as his years of training to be a gentleman took precedence over the raw fury igniting his blood.

His cold, commanding eyes grazed over the posse, "And you! Can you be trusted with the task of arresting and detaining the man who has led you far from your families in order to satisfy his own selfish desire? Will you honor this contract from the Governor himself! Any man who wishes to take a closer look is surely invited to do so."

Robert Washburn stepped forward, "We've chased this girl all over the West! And for no reason?" He sputtered and looked at Cyrus.

"Men! This man is an imposter! Arrest him at once! The letter is a forgery! Why, many congressmen were in my home the night Miss Sullivan murdered Mayor Barksdale!"

Lou and Noah both took in breath sharply, afraid that the men might believe him. However, moments passed and no one made a move to grab Daniel.

"Cowards!" Cyrus screeched, and raised his pistol.

Lou shrieked and kicked her horse hard, knocking Daniel out of the way and at the same time bumping Lightning into Stevenson's side and causing him to fire wildly into the dusk.

Noah moved to quickly subdue the Senator, and finally Robert Washburn again stepped forward, "Hell, the only reason I'm with this posse is because Stevenson threatened to foreclose on my farm if I didn't join up!"

"Me too!" several of the men shouted.

They stepped forward and surrounded the senator, and Daniel took grim satisfaction in knowing the man might not live to stand before the governor if these men had their way. "Take me to my sister," Daniel said, his expressions guarded closely as he turned to one of the men in the posse.

Callie struggled to see through the darkness that had fallen on the camp. None of the fires had been lit yet, and the last thing they'd been able to see was three riders coming into camp: Lou, Noah, and another man.

Kid was chafing at his ropes, knowing Lou was out there and that a shot had been fired. And then, they spotted a torch moving toward them, and Kid caught sight of the burgundy of Lou's skirts in the light. Still, he strained his neck until he caught sight of her beloved face. She met his eyes when the circle of light reached him, and broke away from the others to run to him and kneel to examine his bloody forehead.

Jimmy and Callie both looked cautiously at the tall man who suddenly came to a stop in front of Callie. She seemed to have to tilt her head back forever to meet his eyes, which were shadowed by his hat. Still, there was something familiar and almost comforting about his strongly shaped jaw line.

He swept off his hat, and Callie felt tears rise as she looked into identical eyes, also glazed with tears. She'd been only a girl of seven when she'd last seen him, and only had vague memories of a gangly young man that used to lift her to his shoulders to keep her away from the taunting hands of her other brothers. And yet, now, it was if she was looking into the dear face of her father again.

"Daniel?" Her voice left her and she could only mouth the words.

Daniel kneeled down beside her and quickly reached back to slash the ropes that bound her. They sat in front of each other for long moments, tears rolling rapidly down Callie's cheeks, and standing stubbornly in Daniel's eyes. He looked apologetic and endlessly guilty.

Daniel felt the weight of a thousand worlds settle on his shoulders as he thought of all she'd endured, and how far away he'd been. He'd turned his back on her and the rest of the Sullivans years ago, and had worked against the very thing that constituted their livelihood, slavery. He found himself wondering how Callie could feel anything but contempt for him.

Then Callie found her voice and flung herself into his more-than-ready arms, sobbing, "Daniel, I love you! And so did they!"

There was no need for Daniel to ask whom Callie referred to. She was fully confident that the forgiveness that he feared he'd never find from the Sullivans was his. "He killed them all, Daniel. All but me."

"Honey, you can be sure Stevenson will pay!"

"He's not dead?" Callie asked, stiffening.

"No, he's going to go on trial. He will pay for what he has done!"

"Daniel, he owns the law!" Callie cried out hopelessly, "he won't be punished!

"I promise you, he will! But now, lets get you back into town and warm. We're all going to catch our deaths out in this cold!" He stood up and gently helped Callie to her feet. He then stood at arm's length and studied her in the darkness. Her brows were drawn together in an unsatisfied scowl over the news that Stevenson was still alive.

"You have grown into such a beautiful young woman, darling," He whispered to her.

Callie dropped her eyes, "Sometimes I don't feel so beautiful, Danny," she murmured, unconsciously reverting back to his childhood nickname, "So much has happened. I have so much to tell you," her eyes clouded over as if she feared his reaction to what she would tell him.

"Doesn't matter, honey. Whatever it is, we'll be all right," with that he took off his long duster and placed it about her shoulders.

Callie smiled with new hope as she started to walk toward the horses. She came to an abrupt halt when she saw Jimmy standing not far from them, on the outskirts of the other riders, staring intently at her. Her lips trembled and tears filled her eyes as she quickly went to him and threw her arms around his neck.

Jimmy was a bit baffled at this display of affection, albeit pleased. He wrapped his arms around her buried his face in the soft cloud of her hair. Her tears wet his neck. "It's over," He whispered softly to her, "You ain't got to run any more. You ain't got to be scared."

"I know!" She whispered fiercely and her embrace tightened.

"Callie, why didn't you tell me the truth back at Rachel's?"

"Because you'd already made your mind up, Jimmy," Callie said softly and took a step back from him, seeking his hand as she looked into his searching eyes. They darkened with hurt at her quiet accusation, and Callie squeezed his hand, "Oh, Jimmy, I don't blame you! I know how it looked, but I just couldn't tell you. Not when you stood there with that damning look on your face! I wanted to tell you, but I was so afraid you wouldn't believe me! I couldn't have borne it if you hadn't!"

"I would have Callie! I swear it! But when you never denied it, I just thought..."

"Shhh," Callie told him, and pushed her fingers against his lips to quiet him, "We were both wrong."

Jimmy impulsively reached to gently grab her wrist and kiss her fingers lightly. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't draw her hand away until Jimmy released her arm. They stared deeply into one another's eyes and Jimmy took a step toward her. Suddenly, a movement over her shoulder caught his eyes and he straightened and took an involuntary step away from Callie as he met the curiously and not altogether approving eyes of Daniel Sullivan.

Callie reached her hand out to Daniel, and placed the other one on Jimmy's shoulder, "Daniel, this is the man who saved my honor...and my life...more than once, Jimmy Hickok."

There was a moment of silence as the two men sized each other up. Callie hid a smile as she watched each of them gauge the other, as if each was trying to discern if the man in front of him was worthy of her.

Slowly Daniel extended his hand toward Jimmy and in a voice that was still a little guarded offered, "It appears I owe you a debt of gratitude, Mr. Hickok, for taking care of my sister."

Jimmy shook his head slowly, and his mouth turned up in a slight smile of amusement as he thought of Callie's initial reaction to him, "Actually, Callie does quite a good job of fending for herself. She'll be the first to tell you that."

Callie's cheeks turned bright red, but she shared a laugh with Jimmy. Daniel couldn't help smiling a bit.

A flurry of wine colored skirts was soon breaking up the meeting as Lou burst into the small circle and flung her arms around Callie.

"Thank you, Louise!" Callie told her, tears welling in her eyes all over again.

"Kid told me the story! Oh, I knew you didn't do any of those things!" Lou gasped fiercely, as if somewhere in the back of her mind there had been a moment of doubt.

Just then approaching hoof beats drew their attention and they looked up to find Teaspoon riding towards them. In his hand he held a paper containing information identical to the information Daniel had presented the posse. He was breathless and dirty, obviously coming from a hard ride.

"Cyrus Stevenson is under arrest!" Teaspoon proclaimed, as if he was saving the world.

"We know, Teaspoon," Buck said quietly.

"What? How? I came straight from the telegraph office in Cave Springs."

"Teaspoon, this is Daniel Sullivan, Callie's brother," Kid offered, "He brought the warrant from Louisiana. And just in time. The senator was ready to start shooting us. After you left, he took us hostage."

"Where is he now?" Teaspoon wondered, knowing his boys' habit of getting into trouble.

"The men are getting ready to take him back to Louisiana," Daniel offered.

"No need. There are three territorial marshals coming to pick him up in the morning and take him to Louisiana personally. The governor requested it."

Callie's brow wrinkled, but Jimmy was the only one to notice. She grew agitated and nervous, clearly disturbed by the news. Her eyes darted around nervously under her scowling brows and she finally threw her gaze to her feet, standing docile while Teaspoon instructed Noah and Buck to go see to bringing the senator in to Rock Creek.

Daniel wrapped his arm protectively around his sister and started guiding her back to the horses. She broke from him when her eyes fell upon Phantom, her father's prize black Arabian stallion. She ran to him and stroked his neck, leaning her head into the animal's fine, long neck and breathing the scent that had been so much a part of her father. Tears stung her eyes and her stomach turned violently as she thought of all the senator had done to her family, all he had done to her life, her home, herself.

There was no way he was going to get away with it.

Jimmy noticed the change in Callie's carriage as they made their way slowly back to Rock Creek. Her eyes were dry, and her back was ramrod straight. He was reminded of her fury when he first laid eyes on her, and couldn't understand what on earth brought about the change in her. It was two in the morning by the time they finished unsaddling their sleepy horses and settling in for the night. Daniel was offered a room in Rachel's house, which he gratefully accepted, and the boys and Lou turned into the bunkhouse.

Callie was painfully silent as she crept toward the door of the main house. Every movement was calm and deliberate. No one stirred as she let herself out into the frosty night air. She didn't feel the cold, even though she was clad in only a long flannel nightgown. She drifted almost like a ghost toward the jail, as if she was being drawn there by some force that she didn't understand. She never considered turning back, stopping, or reasoning. This was the only option she had, she was certain.

She stopped in front of the dark jail and looked up at the sign that read "Marshal" for a few moments. It was too late to turn back. Too much had happened. Every moment of her life led her to this one, as desperate and unthinkable as it was.

One trembling hand held a gun.

The other held a deck of cards.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Long Road Home

Callie let herself into the jail, where the dying embers of the stove cast dark shadows in every corner. She stood still a moment, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dimness. Cyrus Stevenson clamored to his feet nervously, and placed both hands on the bars. Callie looked as wild and fierce as any soldier he'd ever met in battle, and he didn't like the fact that he was alone with her.

"Miss Sullivan, why, you'll catch your death in that nightgown!" Cyrus said, and a ruthless smile tugged at his lips, "Have you come to join me in bed again?"

Callie walked up to him, and pulled out one of Jimmy's guns from the folds of her nightgown. She had not given it back when she realized Cyrus wasn't dead--she still had use of it. Cyrus jumped back as she stopped inches from the bars.

"Oh, you've come to avenge your family! Of course! You realize though, that they are never coming back. You could kill me and you'd still never see your dear papa again!"

A tear escaped Callie's eye at the cold truth of his words. This man had wrought havoc in her life that could never be repaired. "Why didn't you kill me too?" Callie demanded of him, asking the question that had haunted her day in and day out, "wouldn't that have made things much easier?"

Cyrus studied her for a minute, and cocked his head as if debating whether to answer her or not.

Callie leveled the gun at his forehead. "Cyrus, you are not in the position to deny me right now! You answer me!"

Cyrus smiled and sat down on his bunk, crossing his stout legs in front of him and folding his arms behind his head in a nonchalant manner that unnerved Callie and infuriated her at the same time. "Because, my dear, you were too beautiful to kill. I desired you for myself. You reminded me of your mama when she was young."

"How would you know about her?" Callie hissed, "She was from Georgia!"

"Ah, and so am I! I loved her. In fact, I'd asked her father for permission to court her, but an honest soldier was not good enough. No, she had to marry into the planter's aristocracy! My God, how your mother shined! And pity the poor fool she cast her eyes upon. They'd stand in line to speak to her, to wait on her hand and foot...not unlike the boys used to do for you, Callie."

"_Used to_," Callie emphasized, "Before you took everything I had away and turned me into _this_!"

Cyrus continued as if he hadn't heard her, "I professed my love to your mother, but she was interested in the money of the wealthy Sullivans and so she declined!"

"Liar! She loved my father dearly! She didn't care about the money! None of us did!"

"Easy enough to say when you've always had plenty of it!" Cyrus charged the girl. "I hated your father. He was the only thing that ever stopped me from getting what I wanted. I decided to ruin him. Worked for years in the Congress, gaining allies and credibility, and money. See, I intended to take away from your mother all she loved."

Callie was weeping, her hand still trembling on the gun, "I thought you loved her. Why would you want to hurt her? To kill her?"

"Because the years had gone by, and I stopped fancying her."

"Then why not just leave us alone!" Callie demanded furiously.

"Because, my dear, your father insulted me. In fact, he ruined my career!"

"Because you tried to ruin him first! All he did was to expose your lies!"

"Doesn't matter. He's dead, as are all of your damn brothers! But one! Damn Daniel Sullivan! I'd put a bullet in his skull if I could this moment! And yours too Callie! I desire you, I even admire you! You have a spirit like mine! Relentless, cold, calculated! We could make a good team! But you've cost me too much! You've ruined everything!"

"My God! Are you even human?"

"I shot them all in the back you know," he said calmly, "Then I turned them over and let them see who had killed them. I kissed your mother like I always wanted to. And I whispered to your father that I would have his land and his daughter. And I did, Callie. I did have you. But you got away."

Callie raised the gun again and held out the deck of cards, "pick one!" she whispered, her voice shaking wildly.

"Now, my dear, what good will it do you to get yourself thrown into jail?"

"I don't care! Pick a card!"

Cyrus rolled his eyes, and shook his head, "My girl, I don't have time for card tricks!"

"I'll pick one for you!" Callie screamed, and quickly drew a card from the top of the pile.

It was the queen of hearts. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered the day Cyrus had killed her brother, remembered the grief stricken days that had followed. She thought back to the days when she had been happy and carefree. She remembered how laughter--often her own--had echoed through the marble halls of their fine house, how her brothers' shouts had carried on the wind as she plunged ahead of them in races on horseback.

And because of Cyrus, she'd been filled with bitterness and hatred that daily poisoned her soul and broke her will. It would stop tonight. Her trembling hand tightened on the pistol.

* * *

Jimmy awoke with a start, not sure what it was that had caused him to bolt upright in bed. His head nearly clashed with the rafters as he looked around the cold room. No one else had stirred, and yet he felt certain there had been something to wake him, some noise or disturbance. His heart beat in his throat as he listened intently but heard nothing. Laying down and trying to go back to sleep proved useless, so he quietly climbed off his bunk, careful to avoid the sprawled arms of the snoring Cody. Lou sat up slowly in bed and met his eyes, looking confused.

"Go back to sleep Lou, everything is okay."

She blinked at him sleepily, clearly not fully awake in the first place, and fell back against her pillow in what would have been a comical manner if Jimmy hadn't been so uneasy. He quickly dressed and let himself out of the bunkhouse.

He made his way quickly toward the jail, worried that the senator's men had helped him escape. His stride quickened to a jog when he saw the door to the jail standing open. His heart beat in his throat as he slipped on something and looked down to find playing cards scattered all over the floor. Cyrus lay sprawled on his bed, mouth open.

"Cyrus!" Jimmy called out, sure that the man was dead. Much to his relief, the senator jerked awake and stumbled to his feet. "Where's Callie?" He demanded when the senator stared at him with relief.

"Callie who?" He said with a smug grin.

"Damn it, Cyrus! If you know what's good for you..."

"Spare me the threats boy," Stevenson said, his attitude cocky.

"Stevenson!" Jimmy roared, "I know she's been here! Where did she go you son of a bitch?"

"Hmmm, perhaps she left town, or perhaps I killed her and chopped her into tiny pieces...and then swallowed them all to destroy the evidence!"

"_Cyrus,_" Jimmy began, voice trembling in rage.

"You know, I really should demand better protection. That lunatic woman could have taken my life tonight, with me helpless in this cell. But I took care of her, don't worry, I'm fine!"

Jimmy's hands itched to wring the senator's pale neck. He knew Cyrus wasn't going to budge and tell him anything about Callie because Cyrus knew there was nothing he could do to make him. Jimmy stormed out of the jail, sure to leave the door open in the hopes that the cold would bring about Cyrus' death.

Jimmy jogged quickly through the quiet, cold town, heading for the stable. He slowed his gait and shook his head as he passed the charred saloon. The air still smelled of smoke from the ordeal. He found her where he thought he would, standing in the stall with the Ghost. Her shoulders heaved with great sobs, and she shivered violently, though she felt no cold.

"Callie," The words were a soft invitation that left Jimmy's mouth before he knew he had spoken. Jimmy slowly stepped into the stall with the girl and her horse. She jumped and turned to look at him, her face and collar soaked with tears. Jimmy could only gaze at her for a minute, not knowing how to make her hurt ease.

"Callie, you must be freezing," Jimmy murmured when he finally could find the strength to look away from those eyes long enough to pull off his jacket and wrap it around her shoulders. Her tears had ebbed with her surprise at seeing him there, but at his gentle touch she broke into sobs again and pushed herself into his arms. Her strength was finally all gone, and she could carry on no more without letting go of some of her pain.

Callie sobbed as she never had before. Everything that she'd lost had finally hit her, and she felt she would break under the strain of the loss. It was over and she had her revenge and her justice and it did nothing to bring those she'd lost back to her. In fact, standing in this stable in this foreign place, she'd never felt further removed from her family.

"It's time to let it go," Jimmy whispered as he tightened his hold on her, "It is over."

"He destroyed me! He destroyed all of us!" Callie sobbed, pressing her cold nose against Jimmy's neck.

"He didn't! Don't you see, you won? If you would have killed him back there, he would have beaten you!"

"I want to kill him!" Callie cried softly, her voice muffled, "I want him to die! But I can't imagine a death painful enough to make up for all he's done! And I want him to suffer and to know that Sullivan Manor will carry on!"

The words were bittersweet to Jimmy because he knew then that she would soon leave him, that she would pick up the pieces of her old life, in a world far, far from Rock Creek. Callie felt Jimmy stiffen beneath her head and arms and looked up at him slowly. His eyes were fixed on hers.

Those eyes! she thought, _as if the first time he saw me he saw straight through me and recognized what I was worth, even though I'd forgotten._

she thought, 

"You knew all along, didn't you?" Callie said, her eyes misting with new tears; tears for the good man holding her, "you knew that I wasn't hateful and dirty...and all that everyone tried to make me...and nothing I could do would convince you otherwise, even when I wasn't sure of that myself."

"Of course I knew," Jimmy said softly, his eyes searching hers, "I knew you were special, but stubborn, and afraid...Callie, when will you leave, because I..."

"Shhh," Callie stopped him, placing a finger on his lips as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks, "I still haven't told you what I saw when I looked at you...what I still see."

"Callie," Jimmy began, squirming uncomfortably.

"No, I want you to know," Callie whispered, "I see the kindest man I've ever known. I was enchanted, you know, that's why I resented you so much. You were everything that I missed and loved and had hoped for once in my life, and yet I knew I couldn't have you because of what I'd become."

"But you could have me," Jimmy said quietly, his own cheeks turning a fiery red.

Callie met his eyes in surprise, and Jimmy looked back at her, looking surprised to have said the words as well. Then slowly he bent his head down to kiss her. The fury and pride and passion that boiled in the blood of both of them soon rose and they challenged the other with it, each rising to meet new levels of heat. The agony both of them felt at the idea of parting was sharp and real and they clung to each other as if they would never let go. Jimmy wove his fingers into Callie's hair, as if he could anchor her to him that way.

"Don't go," Jimmy said breathlessly when finally he lifted his mouth from hers.

She bent her head into his collarbone and shook her head, wrapping her arms around him tightly, "Jimmy, I have to. There are too many broken pieces of me along the path from here to New Orleans, and I have to pick them up if I'm to have a chance at a life."

Tears threatened Jimmy's eyes as he realized the truth in her words.

"Come with me," She said quietly.

Jimmy jumped in surprise and stepped back to look Callie in the eye at the invitation. God, what was stopping him, he thought. Every instinct initially told him to agree, to follow her to the ends of the Earth and back. Even the image of Lou and the boys didn't seem to phase him.

Then he pictured where she was going, and called to mind that picture of the sweeping plantation house that was tended by hundreds of unseen slaves. As much as he loved the fiery woman in front of him, he knew they came from different worlds. Those worlds were clashing like never before, and the conflict would get much, much worse before it got better.

"I can't, Callie. You know that."

"What do we do, Jimmy? I don't want to lose you now! I've only just found you!"

Jimmy shook his head, "One day, if it is meant to be, we'll find a way. But now we can't be together. We'd only resent each other down the road for it. I've seen what happens to men and women who give up too much too soon." Jimmy pulled her to him to hide the doubt in his eyes. She was perfect for him, he thought, there was nothing the two of them couldn't work through. But his past and his mistakes would never leave him alone, and he had to let her go to keep her from being hurt by who he was. There was no doubt that he could have convinced her to stay with him, but he couldn't do that to her.

He briefly pictured Lou's wise eyes before him as she warned him that thoughts like that would guarantee a life of solitude.

But then again, he'd already resigned himself to such a life. He would send Callie home, where she would one day forget about him and find someone else more worthy of her fine heart.

"Jimmy, I love you," the words floated up to him. It should have overjoyed him, but instead a bittersweet pain centered in the vicinity of his heart.

Jimmy couldn't lie to her though, so he whispered, "I love you too."

With that Callie slowly raised on her tiptoes and claimed Jimmy's mouth again. Jimmy closed his eyes, wondering at the amount of pain in this life, and pulled Callie close to him.

* * *

Jimmy felt a bit numb as he watched the flurry of activity from the hard packed dust of the bunkhouse. Callie stood dumbly at his side, holding on to his arm tightly. Both of them found their hearts beating unnaturally fast and their stomachs clenching with dread at the approaching departure.

Daniel Sullivan went about loading their belongings into the buckboard slowly. He sent a sideways glance at his sister, concerned by her paleness. The young man at her side looked as if he might fall over at any moment. It had been a week since they had brought the senator back. He'd barely seen his long lost sister in that time, for she'd been glued to James Hickok's side. They took long walks together, went out on rides together, and stayed up talking late into the night. He had no doubt that they were very much in love, and had even had a serious talk with Callie about her staying behind.

But, he realized with pride, there was too much Sullivan in the girl for her to turn her back on their land. And there was too much pride in Jimmy Hickok for him to settle into a comfortable life sponging off the Sullivan's fortune. It was a shame, he thought, for he had high regards for Jimmy. The man had admirable views on the subject of slavery and Daniel knew of his father's work with the abolitionists in Kansas. Even after hearing that Daniel was going to free the Sullivan slaves, Jimmy still refused to become a part of the plantation lifestyle.

Of course, he would have been willing to let Jimmy release some of his honor if it meant sparing his sister's heart, but he knew that Jimmy would stand by his honor.

When every small buckle on the harness had been checked, when Ghost had been securely tied behind the wagon, and when every thing had been arranged and rearranged by he and Rachel, Daniel suddenly turned and called out softly, "Callie, honey, we should get started."

The riders all came slowly down the stairs to say their goodbyes. Callie embraced all of them. Lou was the hardest goodbye with the exception of Jimmy and the two young women clung to each other for some time.

"You will visit us when you can?" Lou demanded of Callie.

"Sure. Whenever the saloon gets low on girls, just send me a letter," Callie smiled in an attempt to be brave, but her voice wavered and new tears rose in her eyes. The likelihood of their meeting again was very, very small, she knew.

Kid stepped forward to put a comforting arm around Lou as Callie turned slowly to Jimmy.

Callie stepped into his arms, weeping. The others stood back respectfully and let them have their time together.

"It isn't goodbye forever," Callie lied.

"Of course not," Jimmy agreed to make it easier on her, pressing his face to her hair.

They didn't need any more words. Over the past week all that could be said had been said, and what hadn't been said outright was understood perfectly.

"I have to go," Callie said quietly, and pulled away, wondering how in God's name she found the strength to walk away from this man.

Jimmy watched her start to go, a million words and pleas for her to stop bubbling to his throat, but dying in his stubbornly clenched jaw. "Callie!" He finally called out, just before she reached Daniel.

She turned around, eyes glazed with new tears that she'd tried to hide from him as she walked away. "You really are the Queen of Hearts."

Callie broke and ran back to him, throwing her arms around his neck for a final time. Jimmy slowly walked with her to the wagon, a rushing sound roaring in his ears as he dizzily helped her into the wagon, and felt her lips on his a last time.

He was vaguely aware of cries of "ride safe" all around him as the wagon slowly rumbled off. Callie turned in the seat to meet his eyes, and Jimmy couldn't look away from them. He knew he'd never again see eyes that color, and his mind flashed back to the all those times he'd been captivated by those strange, beautiful eyes. Jimmy's eyes lost focus on Callie as tears blinded him, and by the time he somewhat blinked them away, the wagon had disappeared from sight.

"Ride safe, Callie," He murmured softly, feeling more alone than he ever had before.

Suddenly he felt a soft, small hand steal into his and glanced over in surprise to see Lou standing beside him. Her eyes overflowed with tears, and Jimmy realized they were not tears for her own grief, but instead tears for him. She snuggled close to his side and wrapped her arms around his waist, standing with him as they quietly stared after the wagon until the dust had long been settled on the trail south, long after the others had retired into the warm bunkhouse.

"She asked me to give you something after she was gone," Lou suddenly said, looking after the woman that had come in and out of their lives.

Jimmy looked at Lou with his eyebrows drawn together in confusion as Lou gently lifted something out of her vest pocket and placed it in Jimmy's hand.

The slightest of smiles tugged at his lips as he gazed down at the queen of hearts from the deck the senator had forced her to draw from. His thumb gently caressed the face of the card before he tucked it into the pocket that rested over his heart.

"Let's go inside, Jimmy," Lou finally suggested.

Jimmy looked over and attempted to smile bravely at Lou, whose lips were turning blue, "I'll be along in a minute."

Lou searched his eyes, asking with her gaze if he would be okay, and when she was reasonably sure he would be, she went inside to the waiting arms of Kid as both of them silently looked out the window at their friend.

Jimmy continued to stare after Callie for a few minutes. Slowly he reached into the pocket where he'd tucked the card and studied it. He brought the card to his lips and kissed it. Then, turning back for the bunkhouse, he smiled when he saw Kid and Lou, who were obviously checking up on him, quickly jump away from the window. He tucked the card back into his shirt.

He never went out again without it nestled close to his heart to remind him of the extraordinary woman it came from, and how close he'd come to finding and keeping love.


	13. Epilogue

Epilogue: Peace of Mind

He was weary to the bone and felt years older than he really was. His piercing eyes swept the room and he squirmed uneasily in his chair. He hated having his back to the door.

The man in front of him looked over steadily from his cards with a confident smirk on his face.

"Call," James Hickok said quietly.

"I got you beat this time, Bill," the man laughed softly, and Jimmy felt his lip curl in disgust from beneath his mustache. Over the years almost everyone he knew had come to call him "Wild Bill," but he still found it hard to stomach. He'd given up trying to convince people he wasn't "Bill" a long time ago. Hell, perhaps he'd even given up trying to convince himself.

"Let's see, Earl," Jimmy sighed.

Earl lay down his cards willingly, and Jimmy's tired, weakening eyes still stared at his own hand. "Pair of Jacks, can you beat that?" Earl smiled.

Jimmy knew he could, but his eyes remained fixed on his cards. The sight of the queen of hearts in his hand made him think of Callie, of the much older queen he always carried in his breast pocket. There had been a few letters, of course, but he'd never seen her since that day she drove away with her brother. She'd married and had children, and invited him to visit her many times, but he'd never made it to New Orleans.

It was better to remember her as she was, he thought. He'd never met anyone to match her spirit, although Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley had both been strong contenders. And of course, Lou still held the highest place in his heart, all these years later.

He smiled again as he recalled the last time he'd seen Lou and Kid, almost a year ago. They'd settled out West again after the death of the South and the horror of Reconstruction, and had three boys and a girl. They'd both been deliriously happy, and he'd enjoyed the time he spent with them, Teaspoon, Rachel, Cody, and Buck tremendously. After all these years, they were still his only family, and he loved them. He was endlessly thankful that after the war they'd been able to settle their differences and to love each other even more than ever before.

His eyes flicked over the queen again, and he thought of Callie's eyes, and realized he'd been right as he watched her leave that day so long ago. He'd never seen that color again, and yet he could still imagine the hue with complete accuracy.

"Okay, Hickok, what you got?" Earl demanded.

Jimmy snapped back into the present, reluctantly leaving thoughts of Callie, Lou, and the boys behind to return to the poker game. His eyes passed over his two pair, aces and eights, and again he looked at the remaining card, the Queen of Hearts.

A gunshot rang out across the saloon, and Jimmy felt a brief pain and then images flashed before his eyes: a sturdy palomino that had carried him many miles, the faces of Emma, Sam, Rachel, Ike, Jesse, Noah, Teaspoon, Cody, Buck and Kid. Then those brown eyes that belonged to the woman he admired and loved more than any other played in his mind. And lastly Callie's ivory skin and glowing eyes framed by her raven hair flashed before him.

Then there was nothing as he slumped to the floor, killed by a shot in the back. At last, Wild Bill Hickok was granted some measure of peace.

* * *

To this day, James Butler Hickok's two pair, aces and eights, is known as the Dead Man's Hand. There has never been any confirmation on the fifth card of Wild Bill's hand.

But those that knew him, and those that loved him for the man he truly was, and those that grieved at his passing, might have guessed The Queen of Hearts was also there with him, at the end.

THE END

Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author

The Way Station  
Campfire Tales

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